Dumb Luck
by xjellytotlubz
Summary: Danny left Kayleigh's questions unanswered after their first kiss. But as she finds that she's putting him in danger by being with him, she starts questioning herself whether or not she should stay with Danny or leave him to keep him safe. While at home, she notices a change in her parents relationship, a change that'll turn her life upside down. 2nd novel of Luck trilogy.
1. Prologue

Eastbourne

Kayleigh Slovenia

April 2004

_Why my parents bought the family a new dog, I don't know. The house was pretty much full up with the seven of us living there and having a dog made it worse. I wasn't too keen on Dakota; he was always jumping on my bed, licking my face to wake me up. Fortunately, being grounded meant that one of my siblings had to take him on a walk every day. He was only a small Pekingese with very long, soft white fur. He looked up at me with his big black eyes and his pink tongue would be hanging out of his mouth, panting heavily._

_It was only five weeks till my sixteenth birthday and mum and dad had grounded me for six weeks because I was silly enough to disobey their orders._

_It's crazy what your heart makes you do. After trying to get over heartbreak from James, I found myself slowing falling for Danny Jones, a lead guitarist and singer from the new boy band, McFly. However, Jess Wells, my twin sister's best friend, claims that she had been getting it 'on' with him and flirting, yet after Danny kissed me that Saturday afternoon at the Lido, I wasn't too sure if she was telling the truth or not …_


	2. Chapter 1

**Sunday 6th April 2004**

I was woken up at eleven that morning with Dakota sitting on my chest, licking my face vigorously. I groaned loudly as I pushed Dakota off my bed. He sat on the carpet, looking up at me with his wide black eyes, his tongue poking out and wagging his tail franticly.

"Get up Kayleigh for gods sake!" I heard mum shout up the stairs.

"If I'm grounded," I shouted back. "Why do you want me out of bed if I'm not going to be doing anything but stay in the house?"

"Stop being so rude and lazy, Kayleigh, and get out of bed!"

I said nothing and pulled my duvet over my head, wishing that I was invisible. I fell asleep for another five minutes until Dakota jumped back onto my bed again and started barking in my ear. I fell out of bed with a loud thump. I was lying flat on my stomach, my face in the carpet. I made no effort to move. I wanted to stay there for the rest of the day. Dakota had jumped onto my back. I could feel his tail hitting my spine. All my siblings were already out of bed. Except Liam. He was sat up in bed, reading a book. I said nothing as I stood up, walked out the bedroom and headed down the stairs to the kitchen, Dakota following me.

Mum and dad were stood by the kitchen counters, talking amongst themselves and drinking tea. I said nothing as I walked to the fridge and took out a bottle of Sunny D, but dad stopped me and said that as I was grounded, I wasn't allowed to have any more Sunny D for the time being. I was unimpressed.

"Tracie was thinking," Mum started as I sat down at the table with a bowel of cheerio's. "That she wants to spend the day in London with her friends for her birthday," Mum paused, waiting for me to reply but I didn't. "That just leaves you with something to do with your friends. Have any ideas other than a big party?"

"Well seeing as I'm grounded on my birthday, I suppose there's nothing I can do but stay inside and watch telly all day."

Mum and dad exchanged glances and I started to drink the last of the milk out of the cereal bowel.

"Kayleigh," Dad said, folding his arms. "It was your own fault that you were grounded. After you were silly enough to get fired after your first day at Burger King, we gave you one chance and told you not to go to the pier after school, yet you started a fight with custard pies in your history class and then disobeyed us by going to the pier. I think your mother and I have lost a lot of faith in you."

I shrugged. "Would you allow me to leave the house every Saturday if I get a job as a waitress at the bowling alley?"

Dad sighed. Then there was silence. Dakota yawned loudly.

Later that afternoon, I sat out in the back garden on a sun bed, flicking through the latest copy of _Smash Hits_ which Tracie had hidden away in one of her drawers. As I was grounded, I had to make the most of being outside in the sun by spending the day in the garden. Headband Dan and Screaming Lord Thomas were playing a game of snooker. I wasn't too sure where Lovely Little Liam had gone to but I knew that I wanted him to be with me. He was the only person in my family who kept me sane while I was at home. Dad's best friend, Joe Carr, had come round to visit as Tracie went round his house to spend the day with his son, Paul, who was her recent boyfriend. Dakota was sat at my feet, falling asleep in the sun. His ears pricked up whenever he heard something in the distance.

I could hear dads and Joe Carr's voice coming closer from the side gate. I hid my face behind the magazine as if it was camouflaging me. I was invisible.

"Here's little miss trouble." Joe Carr said as they entered the back garden. I said nothing and pretended to read the section about the latest 'must – have' beauty items for that year's summer.

"Stop being rude, Kayleigh, and say hello to Joe." Dad growled.

I said nothing.

"She's just being un-sociable," I heard dad mutter. "She's been very silly which is why she's grounded."

"But for six weeks." Joe Carr's voice was very close to me. He sat on the end of the sun bed. "She'll be grounded on her birthday." There was a sense of sympathy in his voice.

I put the magazine down on my lap and looked up at Joe Carr.

"Are you okay, Kayleigh?"

I raised my eyebrows. "You tell me." I said indifferently.

"Heard of anything from your ex?"

"Uhm, no," Dad said quickly. "She's been spotted with someone else."

Dad gave Joe Carr his mobile phone which had the photo of Danny and I holding hands at the pier Thursday afternoon.

"Hey, isn't he from that new band that's down here? What are they called? McFlurry or something?" Joe Carr pondered, clicking his fingers.

"Yes. Danny Jones. The eighteen year old lad."

I glared at dad. "Do you have a problem that he's eighteen?"

"Well you lied to your mother saying that he was only sixteen."

I narrowed my eyes as Joe Carr looked at me.

"C'mon Kayleigh," He said. "Talk to me."

"I'll leave you two alone then." Dad said gruffly and walked back into the house. I glared down at Dakota who was still sleeping. He had been following me everywhere around the house since he first came in the night before.

"Talk about what?" I mumbled. "You're not exactly my fairy god mother."

Joe Carr laughed. "Fairy god _father_ it'll be."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms tightly across my chest.

"So," Joe Carr started. "You back at school tomorrow then?"

"Well seeing as it's a Monday tomorrow; I guess I'm going to have to."

Joe Carr nodded. "You really don't like me, do you, Kayleigh?"

"Excuse me?"

"You act so," Joe Carr paused. "I must be _that_ annoying for you to dislike me."

I felt a rush of guilt flow through me. "Sorry," I mumbled. "I don't realise it."

"Do I get in the way? Don't you like me coming over for visits?"

"No, it's not that it's just …" I paused. Of course Joe Carr annoyed me. I didn't like that fact that he always came home for dinner and that he teased me all the time. He irritated me and I always wanted to hide away from him. Yet I felt somewhat guilty as he knew. I said nothing.

"I suppose you haven't got over James yet, have you?"

I shook my head.

"Don't worry, I know how you feel. Even though you probably think it was millions of years ago but I was a teenager once," I laughed. "And I too had a girlfriend while I was at school. I was the same age as you when we first started seeing each other," He sighed. "She was the most beautiful woman I ever met. I thought that we would last forever but after two years, she broke my heart when she moved over to Australia. She came back with another man who she claimed that she loved. But look at us now. We're married!"

I smiled. "You never said."

"Because you don't like me."

"Sorry." I repeated

Joe Carr sighed and pattered my shoulder lightly. "What about this Danny chap?"

I said nothing. I was not going to let anyone know that we kissed.

I picked up my dinner off the table and headed for the stairs later that evening. Everyone stopped eating to look at me. Except Liam. Mum was questioning me but I just said how I wanted to retire to my room due to a bad headache. Surprisingly, no one stopped me as I walked up the stairs. I shut the bedroom door and sat down onto my bed. As I sat down, I found myself breaking down into uncontrollable sobs. I cried because of everything had happened in the past two weeks. I cried because of James. I cried because my family didn't like the idea that I had started a band with my three best friends, Lisa, Angie and Sam. I cried because I was grounded. I cried because of Danny. I was scared that we had rushed into things a little too quickly


	3. Chapter 2

**Monday 7th April 2004**

It was another dreadful Monday morning. However, after I came out of the shower, I heard mum and dad arguing in the kitchen. I slowly crept through the hallway and sat at the top of the stairs. Trying to listen to what they were saying. I hugged my knees close to my chest, not really catching their words.

"That was your fault!" I heard dad growl.

"You can't put the blame on me!" Mum's voice was shaky, as if she was close to tears. I shut my eyes tightly, wanting them to stop.

Their shouts ceased as someone walked into the kitchen. It was Lovely Little Liam. I could tell by the sound of his shoes on the tiled floor.

There was a bit of a pause till mum said, "What is it darling?"

"I was just going to put my bowel into the sink." Liam mumbled.

I heard the sound of water running and a clatter of cutlery and bowels being thrown into the sink. There was silence. No one spoke till mum called my name, telling me to get out of bed and get ready for school.

I waited a few moments before getting up onto my feet and walking down the stairs. I didn't know why mum and dad had argued that morning. It scared me. They sometimes had small arguments and disagreements when I was younger but none like that one. I felt scared. I wanted them to smile, to kiss and make up. I wanted to know that everything would be okay.

"I guess I'm getting a lift in then." I said as I saw dad, leaning against the pool table, looking rather infuriated. His face dropped a little as he saw me.

"No," He said calmly. "There isn't enough room in the car to fit you in. I can trust you to walk to school with Angie."

I said nothing. I glanced at mum who had her back to us, washing the dishes. Liam was stood on the opposite side of the kitchen, beside the counter, looking a little solemn.

* * *

Harry Judd, the drummer from McFly took Angie out on a date the night before. She felt a little embarrassed about saying anything but after some coaxing, she finally spoke. I wanted to take my mind away from my parents arguing that morning.

"Do you think he really likes me?" Angie asked, twiddling her braided black hair.

I snorted. "Well I guess so if he asked you out on a date."

Angie sighed dreamily. "I wonder if I should call him, or would that make me seem too desperate?"

"I dunno. Danny said that he would call me after we kissed …"

"Harry said something about taking me out again." Angie said, cutting across me.

"Well it sounds like you two are heading it off …"

"Do you think I'll see him today?"

"I really don't _know_, Angie …"

"Hello gorgeous!"

I felt a quick rush of anger flow through me. I couldn't get a full sentence out without Angie talking about her and Harry.

We both turned round sharply to find Harry casually walking up to us. He was wearing his signature baggy jeans and a slogan t-shirt which was half tucked into his jeans. His hair perfectly spiked. I found myself smiling as he got closer, but then my smile dropped as Harry took Angie into his arms and started kissing her on the lips. Angie wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer to him.

I raised my eyebrows. "Uhm guys," I said but I was ignored. "Hello? Is anyone there?" There was still no answer. I turned to go but stopped myself and shouted Angie's name. They eventually pulled away from each other and looked at me. I rolled my eyes. "Seriously guys, can't you do that in your own time?"

Harry laughed slightly and drew Angie's face closer to his before kissing her again. I rolled my eyes and walked away towards school on my own.

Lisa was dating Sam Michaels, and Angie was dating Harry Judd. I was alone.

As I reached school, I walked through the front field. Angie hadn't caught up with me as she was still with Harry. I wanted to walk quickly to get to the football field at the back to the tree where we usually met Lisa in the mornings.

I saw my sister and her 'girlfriends', Jess Wells, Chloe Bell, Jenny Freewood and Katy Thompson standing in a huddle in the middle of the field with James and his friends, Craig, Jordan and Chris. As I turned away from them and started to walk quickly towards the football field, Katy came running up to me and handed me an invitation to a house party she was holding Friday that week. It was a house party she had every year for her 'half' birthday.

Without knowing that Angie was beside me, she announced that it sounded fun and that she would be there. I scowled.

"Any particular reason as to why you're inviting us?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Katy too narrowed her eyes. "Any reason as to why you need to question everything, Kayleigh?"

"I don't do why." I replied bluntly. Katy shook her head before walking back to where her 'girlfriends' were; her hips swinging side to side with every step she took. I paused on the spot, watching Katy as she reached Jess. She said something to Jess which made her turn to look over in our direction. Only then did we realise that Jess had her school blouse open, with clear view of her cleavage. I frowned, noting that her breasts looked a lot larger than they normally were. Angie sighed and started shaking her head, commenting how she wouldn't be surprised if Jess had breast implants.

Angie and I walked on till we found Lisa stood by the tree, texting on her phone.

She looked up at us as we reached her. "Sam is not going to be in today."

Angie and I exchanged glances.

"How come?" I asked.

"Not feeling too well. I'll go round his house after school," Lisa slipped her mobile phone in the inside pocket of her blazer. "Did you get invited to Katy's house party?"

Angie and I nodded.

"I don't know if I want to go." Lisa said as she got out a tissue and wiped her nose. "Sam said that he probably won't go and thinking about what happened last year, I don't think I would go either."

Katy's fifteen and a half party the year before was terrible. A load of people who no one had met before gate crashed and Katy's parents had to call the police. Lisa, Angie and I were lucky enough to escape out the window to go back home. We didn't want to get involved.

There was a bit of a pause. I looked down at the grass and I could feel Lisa's eyes on me.

"Jess is getting worse by the minute." She said.

I looked at Lisa. "I've figured that out." I said.

"Apparently Danny confessed to Jess on Sunday that he really liked her and that she's not like any other girls he's seen."

I frowned, remembering that that was what Danny had said to me. "Bollocks!" I snapped as the bell rang. The three of us took a walk to the locker rooms to pack our bags for the day's lessons. Angie explained everything she said to me about her date with Harry and that they're going out again later in the week. There was a note stuck on everyone's locker door.

_Dear all girl students._

_I would like to send you this note on behalf of your health and safety. This afternoon, you will be having your first cervical cancer jab. Your second one will be next month and you'll have your third in November._

_Please keep calm when having the jab and meet down in the canteen at the end of lunch._

_Thank you._

_You're sincerely_

_Nurse Lynne_

I scrunched up the note and chucked it in the bin. I wasn't too concerned about getting the jab done but I knew that Tracie was very squeamish and did not like the idea of having jabs. She never did. She didn't like needles. Like Tracie, Angie didn't like needles and too started to moan. I looked at her unsympathetically as another bell rang. It was time for our weekly assembly with our openly gay Headmaster, Mr Hobbs. We walked out of the locker room and sat on the floor at the back of the hall where the other year elevens was sat.

The teachers were sat on chairs on the opposite side of the hall, facing us. Mr Hobbs was stood slightly in front, waiting for the whole school to file in and sit down. I saw one of the other teachers who I didn't have, lean over to our new RS teacher, Mr Humble, and whispered something to him. Mr Humble's eyes started to dart round the room as if he was looking for something. I leaned over to Angie and was about to mention something about it but Lisa hushed me.

There was a long silence and before anything was done, the year sevens started to giggle amongst themselves which then set off the whole school. We all started laughing about nothing.

"Could everyone please be quiet?" Mr Hobbs ordered but no one listened as we all started to laugh even more. We were out of control. No one knew why we were laughing. There was nothing to laugh about but the silence and that Mr Hobbs was unable to do anything about it. But then Mr Humble jumped to his feet and he blew a whistle which echoed across the hall. Everyone stopped laughing and covered their ears till Mr Humble stopped blowing the deafening whistle. Everyone had started to talk again in excitement once the whistle had stopped.

"QUIET!" Mr Humble hollered and the hall fell silent instantly. With anger in his eyes, Mr Humble slowly sat back down in his seat, tucking his whistle into his jacket pocket as Mr Hobbs adjusted his tie.

"You never learn do you?" Mr Hobbs shouted. "This is absolutely _disgraceful_! I am _appalled_ by your behaviour!" He started to pace up and down, looking at each and every one of us with his fists sitting on his hips. "I've had some news from the teachers that some of the pupils are _not_ doing the work they have been told to do and are being rather rude towards them. And I think you'll know who I'm talking about." I lowered my head, pretending that I was invisible. Mr Hobbs carried on with his speech, complaining that the school wasn't getting a good reputation and that we had to work a hundred and ten percent harder than we usually did. He mentioned the open evening that was being held Tuesday evening and he said that our tutor would pick people to help out. Once Mr Hobbs finished, he handed over to Mrs Wragg, my English teacher.

"Okay, despite all of this bad behaviour you've all been making," She said as she took Mr Hobbs' place. "As a school, each and every one of you are going to have a pen pal from a country in Europe," Everyone started to talk amongst themselves but Mrs Wragg carried on. "So every week you'll be getting a letter from your new pen pal. Every tutor period, you'll be given the time to write back. This would give you the taste of what life is like out in other countries and it will also allow students to practice their writing skills. It will benefit anyone who plans to study aboard."

Someone put their hand up and asked if that was a way to improve the school reputation. Everyone started laughing once again.

* * *

The final bell rang at the end of Mr Humble's RS lesson. We were doing a practise exam paper in the lesson and he didn't let us leave till everyone had completed it. Once he finally let us out, I caught Mr Humble watching me leave the classroom, his eyes narrowed. I quickly turned away and quickened my pace, wanting to get away from him and Jess and Katy, who were in the lesson with us.

My tutor had picked Sam and I to do the open evening Tuesday night. Neither of us was impressed. Lisa was a little disappointed as Sam was taking her out on a date that night, so they had to move their date to Wednesday.

I never liked open evenings.

* * *

I found mum and dad arguing again when I came home from school. The kitchen door was closed and I could hear their voices shouting. They only stopped once I slammed the front door. I hesitated for a moment before entering the kitchen. Dad was stood at the end of the room, looking out of the conservatory door and mum, who had her long platinum blonde hair tied up in a messy bun, was stood by the cooker.

"How was school?" Mum asked, her voice sounding a little shaky.

"It was fine," I replied, glancing into the lounge where my three brothers were sat on the carpet, playing a game of slam. "My tutor volunteered me to help out at the open evening tomorrow."

There was a change in my family. I knew it.

Dad gave me some money to go back out to order some curry for dinner. I didn't object. I asked why he didn't get Tracie to do so as I was grounded but he just sighed and ordered me to go. I didn't like the change. My family never liked to have take-away's. Mum always cooked us dinner, using the vegetables that she grew in the back garden. I couldn't see why they wanted me to buy a curry for dinner. Something was going on. Something was missing, but I couldn't see what it was.

"Fine," I muttered, taking the twenty pound note that dad was holding. "I guess this means that you have a little bit of faith in me now."

"Kayleigh now isn't the right time to be going on about what you did last week. You young lady are still grounded, but this is only an exception."

Taken aback by dad's frustration, I said nothing as I walked out the kitchen and closed the door behind me. I paused for a moment, listening. There were a few mumbles and then a clatter of something falling onto the floor. As if something was pulled forcefully off the table.

I left the house.

I wasn't too sure where the nearest curry house in Eastbourne was so I ended up taking a detour. I walked towards the pier, hoping that no one I knew from school was there. I stood by the rail and watched the heavy waves smash into the stony beach. I didn't want to go back home. I was scared about the way my parents were acting. I wanted to go and find Danny. I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to know that we were okay and that we can make it work.

"Kayleigh?" I slowly turned round and saw Tom standing a couple of paces away from me. He smiled. "Thought that was you." He said as he joined me by the rail. There was a moments silence as the wind blew harder. "Did you have a good time on Saturday?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it was … great."

There was another pause.

"Tom," I started. "Can I just ask you something?"

"Be my guest."

"I guess you know what happened between Danny and I at the Lido," Tom nodded. "Has he said anything else to you? He said that he was going to call me but he hasn't."

Tom shuffled on the spot a little. "I don't know," He muttered. "He hasn't mentioned anything since. He told us on the day but," Tom turned to look at me. "He really likes you, Kayleigh. And I'm not just saying that."

I sighed and rested my elbow on the rail. "Harry and Angie seem to be kicking off together."

"Yeah. They went on a date yesterday, didn't they?"

"They were all over each other this morning."

Tom smiled. I shuffled on the spot, just the way Tom did.

"Do you know why Danny hasn't called me yet?" I asked.

Tom shrugged. "We've been pretty busy recently. We haven't had much time. I'm sorry if it's worrying you."

"No," I said quickly. "I'm not worried. I was just being curious."

Tom glanced down at the railing before looking up at me. "Why do you worry so much, Kayleigh?"

"I don't do why." I replied bluntly. Tom raised his eyebrows. "Sorry," I mumbled. "I don't like to answer questions involving why." I paused for a moment, licking my lips. "I know that it's all about trust and loyalty, but after what happened with James, I need someone I can trust to be myself with. And I feel that when I'm around Danny. I feel like I am me. I've had too many people who've just walked out of my life and too many who have replaced me. I need someone who won't leave me for someone else because they're funnier, more open, or belong to another crowd. I need someone who I can count on. But after James, I don't know who to trust. I can't trust myself anymore. Especially from how I was years ago."

"You need to stop stressing out and worrying," Tom said nudging me. "Come on, Kayleigh, _relax_ a little." He then chucked me under the chin before walking away towards the arcade at the end of the pier. I watched him, one hand still clasped onto the rails. Tom then turned to look at me.

"You coming or what?"

I followed him and we entered the arcade. We played all of the games that were there. We spent ages on a car racing game and agreed that that was our favourite one. We messed around on the hockey table and took some silly photos in the photo booth. Afterwards, Tom brought me a corn dog and we walked back up the pier. I had noticed some girls glaring me as I walked with Tom.

"You know Jess Wells?" I asked as we got further down the pier. Tom nodded as he took a bite out of his corn dog. "Do you see her often?"

Tom laughed slightly and shook his head. "No," he said. "Only a few times but she seems a little too clingy. She doesn't tend to give us enough space whenever we _do_ see her."

I said nothing as we reached my house.

* * *

"Where's dad?" I asked as I put the curry onto the counter.

"He's gone to see Joe for a bit," Liam mumbled. "I don't think he's coming back tonight." We both started to serve the curry onto the plates.

"What happened when I left?"

Liam sighed. "Dad hit mum before leaving the house. Mum is shut in her bedroom. She doesn't want to come out."


	4. Chapter 3

**Tuesday 8th April 2004**

We were given our first letter from our foreign pen pal. My pen pal was a twelve year old girl named Panya from Italy. She lived with her foster parents as her real ones died in a car accident when she was seven. She had a dream of becoming a nurse. She liked the idea of helping the sick and wounded. It reminded me of dad. He was a doctor and found that helping people brought him happiness.

* * *

Mrs Sharpe announced that we were having a hockey tournament against another school on Thursday. Our double games lesson was used up by practicing. I found myself being yelled at by Mrs Sharpe whenever I paused as one of my team members went after the ball. There was a lot of pressure on me to do well that hockey season. The school was desperate to win. We've never won before.

"I'm so nervous about the tournament on Thursday." Angie said as we started to get changed back into our school uniform at the end of the lesson.

"What is there to be scared about?" Jenny snapped, putting her black hair into a high ponytail.

Angie shrugged and turned her back Jenny her as she started to giggle.

"Ignore them" I muttered to her.

"It's rude to bitch about people behind their backs, Kayleigh!" Katy snapped.

"It takes one to know one, Katy." I replied, not looking at her.

"Why were you with Tom Fletcher last night?" Jess asked spitefully. Jess who wasn't usually in our PE class had joined the girl's hockey team.

Everyone in the changing room turned to look at me.

"I don't do why." I mumbled as I picked up my school bag and left with Lisa and Angie.

"So, it sounds like someone is becoming friends with the McFly boys then," Lisa said nudging my arm. "Aren't you thankful we made you see them live?"

I glared at Lisa and walked on quicker. I wasn't in the mood to do anything that day. I was constantly worried about my parents. I hadn't seen dad at all that morning and I was scared that he wouldn't come home. I couldn't stand the thought mum and dad splitting up. I hadn't told anyone about my parent's behaviour. Nor did I plan to.

* * *

It was lunch time and the three of us sat in the canteen, eating mashed potato and cheese. Angie had stolen a copy of the _School's Weekly_ newspaper from the reception. On the front cover was a photo of Sam, Lisa, Angie and I performing at the Music Concert. There was an article about us.

**Could _Broken Wings_ be the new school band?**

_Written by Sammie Lander._

_After Smashed Eggs, the school's last band, left after their GCSE exams three years ago, we've missed them dearly. We've missed the constant charity gigs they held at school. But never did we imagine that there would be another band at school. Until Friday 4th April 2004 when Broken Wings stepped in and performed at the music concert. The band is made up of four year eleven pupils: Sam Michaels (16) bass and vocals, Lisa Levett (15) keyboard and vocals, Kayleigh Slovenia (15) guitar and vocals, and Angie Gibson (16) drums. Their most popular song was Leave It All to Me which was written by Angie Gibson._

_Sources close to the band revealed that they have only been together for about a week. The three girls did a small gig a couple of weeks ago that The Dolphin and Sam only joined the band days before the music concert._

_As the school journalist, I am impressed. They have a very unique style of music. Almost a sort of indie rock style; and it has been said that the school's headmaster, Mr Hobbs, has been questioning if this band will be any better than Smashed Eggs!_

_If you have a look at the school's website, you will find a video posted by one of the students of Broken Wings singing at the Music concert._

_Here is an interview with the school's Music teacher, Mr Smallcombe, shortly after the concert._

_**Sammie:** "So Mr Smallcombe. How do you feel about Broken Wings?"_

_**Mr Smallcombe:** "I'm extremely proud of them. At first, when they started to rehearse in the music room, it was only the three girls. When they were singing Leave it All to Me, there was no bass, so it didn't sound quite as good but when Kayleigh asked Sam Michaels to play bass with them, there was a massive improvement._

_**S:** "Do you have any predictions for the band?"_

_**Mr S:** "I have high hopes for them and I believe that if they stick to what they are doing, they will be successful. I could just imagine hearing one of their songs being played on the radio."_

_**S: **"I hope so too!"_

_Published Monday 7th May 2004._

_Journalist: Sammie Lander_

Just by reading the article, Sammie Lander sounded like a creep to me. There something about the way he wrote the article about us. "_Sources close to the band _…" Where did he get that from? What sources?

Sam came down to sit with us as soon as I finished reading the paper. He was feeling a little better than before and decided to come into school as he too was doing the open evening with me that night.

"Do you think we should do another concert?" Angie asked.

I sighed a slotted a red straw into my can of coke. "Well, we do have McFly's concert to perform at in three weeks time."

"I thought your parents grounded you."

I said nothing as I looked down and flicked through the pages of the newspaper. I didn't want to answer anything that was anything to do with my parents.

"Don't worry about that," Angie said reassuringly. "We'll make sure that you'll be able to perform there."

* * *

Jess had passed me a note during our science lesson, asking me why I was stalking McFly. I just looked at her and gave her the finger … until Ms Meyers caught me and sent me out the room.

* * *

Angie started wishing me luck for the open evening. We were stood by the school gates. However, Lisa was more concerned about Sam and how he still wasn't completely better. She asked me to look after him.

Mr Hobbs was standing in the reception, with some other people who were helping out. I was expecting Mr Hobbs to mention something about being a little late, but he just smiled broadly at me as I stood next to Sam.

It was only another ten minutes till parents started to arrive. Mr Hobbs sent some of the lower schools away with some visitors, one by one, till it was just Sam and I left. Mr Hobbs introduced Sam to and elder couple and left him to take them away. He then put the palm of his hand on my back gingerly and guided me towards a middle aged couple who had a young child with them. He looked about ten years old, at least.

Our pace was very slow, but the family were busying themselves by reading the school's papers and magazines. "I'm counting on you, Kayleigh," Mr Hobbs said in my ear in a low voice. "I know what a lovely girl you really are and that you can do me proud. Don't let me down." I glanced at Mr Hobbs. He cleared his throat and said clearly, "Would you kindly take this lovely family round the school, Miss Slovenia?"

I nodded as I looked at the family who had all stood up, neither of them looking at all impressed. Mr Hobbs then patted me on the back.

"I'll leave you to it." He turned on his heel and walked away.

I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do. The teachers didn't say anything about having a route around the building and where we should or should not go.

I put on my best smile, flattened my skirt and said, "Hello and welcome to our school for all ages up to eleven to sixteen."

"Yes we know that!" The mother snapped. "We were told that when we first came in. Do you think that we're stupid?"

A little taken aback, I said nothing and shook my head. I took in a deep breath to calm myself down, not wanting my anger to take control. "Well if you follow me," I said calmly. "I'll show you around the building."

I guided them through the narrow corridor towards the main hall. The hall was filled with boards with GCSE art, textile and design technology work pinned up. I allowed the family to walk around the hall on their own to examine the work. Afterwards, I took them to the English rooms and started to explain the English courses. However, as we entered one of the rooms, I saw Jess with her visitors on the other side of the room. They were looking out the window and Jess was pointing to the view on the sea in the distance. Ignoring Jess, I slowly turned to the family I was with and started to explain the novels and poems that we studied.

"Clearly not interested in your style of charm, Miss Slovenia."

I turned round to find Jess stood beside me, her eyes narrowed. I glanced around the room. Her visitors were gone.

"If you don't mind, Jessica, but I'm currently in the middle of giving a tour. Now if you don't mind, I would like to carry on."

"It's clear to see that they are not interested in what you are saying. You are boring them. Perhaps later, Kayleigh?" Jess turned to the family. "Shall we go?" With that, she left the room, the mother and the little boy following. The father stayed where he was, watching me. I watched them go, my mouth hanging open.

"You really don't like her, do you?" He said.

I closed my mouth and glared at him. "Oh shut up." I growled.

"I can see why you dislike her so much, you're a snob."

I froze for a moment. "You think I'm a snob?"

"It's your personality. I can tell."

"Well I'm terribly sorry for not reaching your high expectations."

"You really _are_ a snob, aren't you?" He snapped. "You can't see anyone better than yourself."

"Oh, good of you to take the blame."

Jess poked her head around the door. "Coming?" She asked sweetly. The father grunted before leaving.

"I guess we owe you a thanks." I heard the mother say to Jess as they walked down the corridor.

"No worries. I'm glad to rescue anyone from that girl."

* * *

"You know, you look so much like your father with your fringe back, Kayleigh." Sam said after taking a sip from his mug of coffee. Sam and I were sat in the canteen, eating chocolate cake and drinking tea and coffee. There were some other parents, teachers and pupils sat around.

I looked at Sam, taking the chocolate chips off the top of the cake one by one and putting them into my mouth. I frowned. "How?"

"You both have the same dark brown eye colour, and you have the same jaw."

I sighed. "And we have the same temper. Only mine is stronger," I looked down at the cake. "Sam," I continued. "Do you think I'm a snob?"

Sam laughed a little. "What made you ask that?"

I shrugged. "I was just wondering."

Sam shook his head. "You're not," There was another pause until Sam took out a packet of Jelly Tots which he had hidden in his blazer pocket. "I thought you would want these."

I looked at the packet in his hand and raised my eyebrows. "What's the scam?"

"Scam?"

"Any reason as to why you want me to eat your Jelly Tots?"

Sam laughed. "There's no scam. You just look like you're in need of some cheering up." He then put the packet onto the table

"Sam," I started as I felt tears sting my eyes. "I'm worried."

Sam looked up at me. "I knew there was something upsetting you. What's up?"

"It's my parents. I don't know what's going on."

"What's wrong with your parents? The last time I saw them, they were happy and loved up with one another."

I frowned. "Since they grounded me last week, there's been a huge change in my family, and I can't see where or why," My voice started to shake but I tried to hold back the tears. "They've been arguing a lot recently and dad left the house last night, and I haven't seen him since."

Sam put his arm round me. "Don't worry about it," Sam said. "Everyone gets worried about their parents when they argue. I'm sure everything should be okay soon enough."

* * *

Once the open evening finished, I waited in the car park for a while, wondering if my parents would pick me up, but they never did. I took a walk home on my own. Once I reached the end of my drive, I saw someone stood by the front door, leaning against the wall.

My heart leapt into my mouth. "Danny?!"

He looked up and smiled broadly.

I froze, not registering that he was there. "What," I paused. "Danny what are you doing here?" I asked as he walked towards me.

"I came here to apologise." He stopped right in front of me.

"Danny," I sighed. "If you're going to tell me that Saturday was a mistake, they you'd better tell me now because I don't want any more lies or heart break." I looked away waiting for an answer, but there wasn't one. "Why didn't you call?"

"Kayleigh," Danny started. "You really need to learn not to jump to conclusions so suddenly. I'm a new band releasing our first album. We are constantly bombarded by fans and journalists," He paused for a moment and touched my arm gingerly. "Saturday wasn't a mistake, Kayleigh. Maybe we could move on from there. I'll take you out."

"I'm grounded, Danny."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Your parents grounded you last Thursday, yet you still managed to sneak out of the house to come to the Lido with us."

"Katy Thompson is holding a house party Friday night," I said. "You could come then?"

"And what would they say if they saw us together?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Good point."

Danny stroked my cheeks with the tips of his fingers. "This can work, Kayleigh, it really can. We just need time." He leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. As he did so, the front door banged open and my dad came rushing out. He pushed us apart.

"Dad, what are you doing?" I shouted.

"Why are you letting this eighteen year old lad harass you?" He bellowed.

"He's not harassing me!"

"Kayleigh Slovenia, you are grounded, mainly because of _him_."

"Please don't get him into this."

"Look Mr Slovenia," Danny said calmly. "I didn't want to cause any trouble."

"Oh shut up! You and your silly band have only got another three weeks till you go back to London and I have half a mind to stop you from seeing my daughter."

"Jesus, Dad. What's you're bloody problem?" I snapped as mum came rushing out the house.

She looked at Danny, frowning. "I think it's about time that you should leave."

Danny glanced at me and nodded before walking away. Mum turned to dad.

"You see what you do?" She shouted. "You see that you're the one influencing her to meet all these people. You're the one who let her out the house last night. She's bloody grounded for Christ sake!"

"Don't put the blame on me; she's your bloody daughter."

"_Our _daughter!"

I wanted to scream but I couldn't force it out of my mouth. I was disowned.

Liam and I slept in the tent again that night. Mum and dad eventually calmed down soon after I stormed into the house. Mum went to bed first and dad followed an hour after. I sat up in my sleeping bag and shone the touch round the tent. I looked at Liam who was lying on his stomach, reading a book.

"Kayleigh, do you suppose mum and dad will split up?"

"Don't say that, Liam." I said as I put down the torch.

"But isn't that what happened to Lisa's parents?"

I looked at him. "How'd you mean?"

"Her parents split up because they were constantly arguing."

"Good night Liam." I said as I turned off the torch and snuggled down into my sleeping bag, not wanting to talk about mum and dad splitting up.

"I do worry about you sometimes, Kayleigh. Even though you have changed because of dad years ago, I do tend to worry if you're going back to that old, Kayleigh."

I shut my eyes tightly as tears spilled out. Ms Levett told me the same thing after our first gig at _The Dolphin_.

"But I believe in you, Kayleigh. I know that you won't change back but since, James left you, you seem to keep everything inside you. You don't tell me anything anymore. You never mentioned anything about Danny Jones to me."


	5. Chapter 4

**Wednesday 11th April 2004**

Dad drove me into school that morning.

The house was silent. No one wanted to talk to anyone, except Headband Dan and Screaming Lord Thomas who exchanged a few whispers. Mum was sat out in the conservatory, clasping a mug of tea in her hands, watching the rain fall outside. Her facial expression was vacant.

There was silence in the car and all that was heard was the sound of the rain hitting the car roof. I didn't dare to look at dad or even bring up a conversation. He had hurt me. He made me feel disowned by referring me as mum's daughter rather than his own. I didn't know if I wanted to forgive him but somehow, a part of me understood why dad acted that way the night before. Why he pulled me away from Danny. The thought of loosing me scared him. He didn't like the idea that I was growing up so fast.

Dad turned into the school car park and parked the car perfectly into the corner. I undid my seatbelt.

"Have a good day, Kayleigh." Dad said as I opened the door.

I said nothing as I got out the car, slammed the door and walked quickly over towards the music room where Lisa, Angie and Sam wanted to meet me. The further I got away from dad, I more I started to realise how exhausted I was. I had a sleepless night the night before and I had another splitting headache. I walked quickly through the rain, rubbing my head. As I got there, I could hear Sam playing his bass. Angie made a joke on how I survived the opening evening when she saw me.

We had a plan. Not the Thursday coming but the Thursday after, Mr Smallcombe suggested us to have another gig. We agreed instantly.

* * *

Lisa, Angie and I sat in the canteen during break. Lisa wanted to be with Sam but he went to play basketball in the sports hall with his friends. It was still raining heavily outside and the teachers told all pupils to stay inside during break. Angie offered to invite us both round that evening to write a song together but I knew I couldn't because I was grounded and Lisa said she had plans with Sam.

We bought a large piece of lemon drizzle cake to share between us. The three of us were silent for most of the break as we tucked into the cake so I mentioned about Danny, how he waited for me outside my house and how he wanted to take me out. However, I didn't say anything about dad.

As break time passed, I had a strange feeling. Even after what happened the night before with Danny and the silent car journey that morning, I wanted to be with my dad more than anything.

* * *

On the way home from school, I took a walk to the hospital. My dad worked at the Esperance Hospital as an Orthopaedic Surgeon. He also treated the sick and wounds such as third degree burns and deep cuts. I walked through the double doors, feeling a little intimidated by all the other doctors who walked past. I steadied my pace, glancing around the room as I reached the reception desk.

"What can I get you love?" The female receptionist asked.

I pulled the sleeves of my school jumper over my hands nervously before saying,

"Hi … I'm Kayleigh Slovenia …"

"David's daughter?" She interrupted, sounding rather surprised.

I hesitated for a moment. "Uhm yeah. I was just wondering if I could go and visit him if he's not too busy." I stuttered over my words.

"I'm afraid not, dear. He's in the middle of doing an operation," She then looked somewhat worried as my face dropped with disappointment. "Is there anything I could do to help?"

I shook my head. "Could I wait for him?"

The receptionist nodded as she stood up and directed me to the waiting room. She offered me light refreshments but I declined and sat in one of the blue seats. The waiting room was empty and the only other person there was an old man who had his head bowed. It took me a while to realise that he was asleep. I never liked hospitals and I could feel shivers running down my spine just by sitting there, but I didn't want to leave until I saw my dad.

It was another two and a half hours till dad arrived with the receptionist leading him. I nearly dropped off to sleep like the old man had, but I was quickly awoken by the sound of footsteps. Dad, who was still wearing his uniform, looked at me. I stood up, my throat feeling a little dry.

"Shouldn't you be at home?" Dad said gruffly as the receptionist left. "This grounding isn't really working out."

"Dad, I've been here since the end of school. I just wanted to see you."

Dad sighed. "Well I've just finished operating on someone with a cracked rib. There must be a reason you came here."

I paused, feeling upset and hurt. The tone of his voice told me that he didn't want me to be there. I wanted dad to tell me why he was arguing with mum and him to promise me that he wouldn't leave. "Dad, I'm sorry," I managed to say. "I'm sorry for letting you down."

Dad sighed once again when he saw a tear leak out of my eye. He took my hand and we both sat down in the chairs.

"What's come all over you, Kayleigh?" He asked as he handed me his old handkerchief. I took it and wiped away my tears. The warmth in his voice reminded me of when he used to soothe me whenever I cried as a little girl.

"I don't like the way you and mum are always arguing. You're worrying me."

Dad shuffled in his seat. "Your mother is being very silly at the moment."

I looked at dad. "Why? What's happening?"

"She refuses to move to Brighton." Dad paused for a moment.

I nodded. "Yeah, before you went to Brighton for the weekend, mum mentioned something about your promotion and that you have a workplace in Brighton or something like that."

"Yeah. It's a possible promotion. It can change our lives but your mother doesn't approve."

"I could go," I said, leaning on the arm of the chair. "I could move to Brighton with you."

Dad laughed. "Kayleigh, you have your exams to pass."

"I know," I said quickly. "I could complete all my exams and then move to Brighton with you," I then hesitated and frowned. "Why doesn't mum want to go?"

"Because she didn't like Brighton when we went. And she thinks that we're fine living in Eastbourne," Dad laughed again. "Anyway, you have that geography trip to Brighton this weekend, don't you?"

I paused for a moment. I had forgotten about it. I said nothing and looked down at my shoes. I then looked at dad again. "I did mean it when I said I was sorry."

Dad sighed and leaned forward. "You've been rather silly, Kayleigh."

"I know I have. I've been an idiot. Liam was telling me last night that he thought that the old me might come back."

Dad shook his head. "He's wrong," He looked at me. "You have let me down a little after what you did last week, but I believe that you'll never be the Kayleigh you were before."

"I was perfectly fine before I turned ten years old. Things started to change and you forced me to change back. That's why Tracie and I don't get on well like we used to."

Dad smiled weakly. "Why do you want to move to Brighton with me? You have friends here, Kayleigh."

"It's only a thirty minute drive from here." I said smiling. I sighed heavily. "As much as I love my mother, I don't want to turn out to be like her when I'm older. I want to be more like you, dad. You're strong, smart and an independent man. I wish I could be a little more like you."

"And I'm sorry for scaring Danny away from you last night."

I shook my head. "It's okay."

"You don't suppose he's been put off, do you?"

I shrugged. "I don't think so."

Dad smiled and took my hand again. He stood up and pulled me out of my seat. "We'd better get home. Your mother would start to worry about you."

"Am I still grounded?"

Dad paused before saying. "Yes. But we'll tone it down a little. You're allowed to go out, as long as you're back in the house by six by the very most."

I smiled as we left the waiting room. Dad went to his locker room to pick up all his bags, signed out and we left the hospital.

* * *

It was later that evening and I was lying on my back on my bed. Dad was sat downstairs, reading the paper and mum had gone to bed early, rather irritated that I was home late. Dad mentioned how he was allowing me to leave the house. Mum disagreed which led to a small argument, until she retired to her bedroom. All my siblings were out at their friend's house for the evening. Except Liam. He was sat in the lounge watching the telly. I took the small wooden dream catcher which dad made for me when I was a little girl, off the end of my bed. I twiddled it delicately in my hands. It was made out of twigs which entwined with one another. Dad collected them when he used to go on his yearly trips to the new forest with Joe Carr and some of his other work friends. Joe Carr too worked at the Esperance Hospital as an Orthopaedic Surgeon.

I glanced at the calendar which was hung up on the back of the bedroom door. I had the coming weekend highlighted. The school had planned a geography trip to Brighton that weekend and with everything that had happened the past three weeks, I had forgotten about it.

I liked the idea of moving to Brighton with my dad. I couldn't see why mum didn't like the idea. I started to think about the hockey match I had against King Edward's school on Thursday. Mrs Sharpe was determined that I would win the match, leading us into the quarter finals. However, I didn't want to do the match as all I could think about were my parents and what Liam had told me the night before. I wasn't turning into the old me and I never would. I changed my whole life for dad when I was ten years old because he didn't like the way I was. That only started when I was eight. After talking to dad at the hospital, I think we finally started to understand each other and it felt like even though I had disappointed him, he still cared a lot about me.

After a while, my eyes started to feel very heavy, so I turned the side light off and snuggled down into my bed.


	6. Chapter 5

**Thursday 10th April 2004**

I woke up that morning with another headache and a blocked nose. I lay in bed for a while till I poked something on my right cheek with my tongue. Only then did I realise that it was an ulcer. I knew that that wasn't going to be a good day. The rain had calmed down over night, yet there were dark clouds in the sky.

During tutor time, we wrote our first letter to our foreign pen pal. Panya had asked me a dozen questions, asking everything about me. It took me a couple of tries before I send the letter.

_Dear Panya,_

_Thank you very much for your first letter. I very much appreciate it. To be honest, I've never had a pen pal before so excuse me if this letter is badly written._

_Hello, my name is Kayleigh Slovenia and I'm fifteen years old. I'll be turning sixteen in about four weeks time. I live in a town called Eastbourne which is located in south England. They say that Eastbourne is the 'sunniest' town in England but looking at the heavy rainfall we had yesterday and the grey clouds above us now, I don't believe that's true. I've lived in this seaside resort since I was born, but I'm hoping to move to Brighton – the nearest seaside town – once my GCSE exams have finished._

_I'm currently in my final year at school taking Mathematics, English Language and Literature, Science, History, Music, Religious Studies and Geography at GCSE level. Tonight, we have a hockey match against the school, King Edwards, and being Team Captain, I have to try my hardest to give the school a 'good reputation'. However, as we lost last year in the quarter-finals, my Physical Education teacher is desperate to reach the final this year._

_Looking back at your first letter to me, Panya, you said that you want to be a nurse when you grow up. Good for you! My father works at the local hospital as an Orthopaedic Surgeon. He treats people who have sport injuries, suffer from degenerative disease or any infections. He also treats the sick as well as people who have things like third degree burns or deep wounds. I look up to my father a lot and I respect you immensely for wanting to become a nurse to help people._

_I'm currently in a band with three of my friends from school. We've called ourselves Broken Wings. Out of all honesty, I haven't got a clue what I plan to do in the future. I would love it if my band earned a record deal and spent the rest of our lives recording music and touring the world, however, my parents weren't too keen on the idea. I've applied at the local college to study Music, History, Geography and Maths as they're the four subjects they enjoy the most. But then maybe once I leave college, I may have some idea as to what I want to do as a career, academic-wise._

_But what about you, Panya? Tell me more about your hometown in Italy._

_From your new British pen pal;_

_Kayleigh Slovenia_

* * *

It was ten minutes till the match started and my hockey team were stood at the side of the pitch, warming up. I wrapped my arms tightly across my chest and jogged on the spot. There was a slight chill in the air.

The girls from the King Edward's school were stood on the other side of the pitch, doing star jumps. They all seemed a lot tougher and bigger than we were. They had long muscular legs and broad shoulder.

No one mentioned it.

"You girls ready?" Mrs Sharpe asked as she joined us with a clipboard in her hands. Someone muttered 'yes' but no one else said anything. She looked at me. "You can do this, Kayleigh. I know you can." She smiled before wishing us luck and walking away to the stands where parents came and sat down. My family had sat in the middle of the third row, watching us. Screaming Lord Thomas had a large box of popcorn on his lap which he was sharing with Headband Dan and Lovely Little Liam. I sighed heavily as I turned to face my team. I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, trying to keep warm.

"So, this is it, girls," I said. "We've trained hard for this and I know that we can do better than last year. The match last year was only three nil to us and that's not good enough. We need to fight our way to the finals because I'm not going to loose in the quarter for the fifth year in a row."

"Hey, isn't that McFly?" One of my team members said, pointing to the stands. I froze for a moment before turning. McFly had entered and sat down behind my family. Harry saw us and waved at Angie who waved back.

"What you waving at?" Jenny hissed.

Lisa, Angie and I turned to look at Jenny who was stood next to Katy and Jess. She smirked and waved at Harry. I knew that Angie wanted to say something to her but I gripped onto her wrist, stopping her. I quickly glanced at the stands again. McFly were saying things to one another and constantly looking over to our direction.

I said nothing as I picked up my hockey stick but as I reached down to pick it up, I saw someone's foot on it. It wasn't until I looked up that I noticed it was Jess. She had her wavy blonde hair scraped back into a high ponytail, with the odd strand falling in her face.

"Could you get off my stick, Jess?" I said, trying to pull my stick away from her, but she didn't budge. She placed both hands on her hips.

"If only you would do one thing." She replied.

"Kayleigh won't do anything that you tell her," Lisa snapped as she folded her arms. "She doesn't need someone like you to tell her what to do."

I said nothing as I looked down at my trainers and pretended that I was doing up my laces and wishing that I was invisible.

There was a moments silence before Jess grabbed hold on my upper arm and hauled me up vigorously. "Keep away from my man," She spat as I was up on my feet. "Danny isn't interested in stalkers like yourself and you're not mature enough to deal with someone like him, so _back off_."

I narrowed my eyes as the referee blew the whistle. Jess picked up my stick, shoved it into my arms before turning on her heels and walking onto the pitch, Jenny and Katy following her. The rest of my team walked to their positions. I raised my eyebrows as I turned to Lisa and Angie.

"She's so out of order." Lisa muttered, shaking her head slowly. I nodded and headed towards the middle of the pitch, but Mrs Sharpe quickly stopped me.

"Kayleigh, I want you to be careful," She said, her voice low. "The other team captain is a very big and strong girl."

"Don't worry. I can handle her." I replied, and with that, I ran to the middle of the pitch as I heard the crowd cheer.

The other team captain spat to the ground once I had reached her. She had strawberry blonde hair which was scraped back into a tight bun which gave you a headache just by looking at it.

I could feel my heart pounding when the referee put a hockey ball between our sticks. There was a moments silence as he walked back a few steps.

"You're going down, little girl." The other team captain threatened.

"You wish." I snarled.

The referee raised his arm up in the air and blew his whistle. Instantly, the other team captain hit the ball between my legs and started running after it. It took me a while to register what had happened.

"Go, Kayleigh, _go_!" I didn't know who shouted at me but I started to run after the ball immediately. Once I got in the way, I hit the ball out the girl's direction and it went towards Angie. Angie started to dibble the ball round the pitch towards our goal.

"Aye, pass the ball over here!" Katy shouted at Angie. Angie hit the ball over to her but Katy did an attempt to hit it but missed, so another girl from the other team got it and started to run off with it.

"Bloody hell, Angie, learn to play the damn game!"

"That's enough! We're never gonna win this match if you stand around complaining. Just _go_!"" I shouted as I grabbed hold of Katy's shoulder and shoved her forward. I started to run after the ball again. I got up to the girl who had the ball, and hit the ball out of her way. The ball went speeding across the pitch and straight into the goal. My team started to cheer and so did the crowd. The girls on the King Edward's team didn't look at all that pleased.

* * *

Half an hour went by and it was half time. We had to swap ends of the pitch and we had a quick team chat. The score was 8-3 to my team.

Miss Sharpe came running up to us to congratulate on our success. She said that we were all brilliant out on the pitch and that we had great teamwork. She congratulated me that I scored the first five goals and Jess, Samantha and Lisa for scoring the last three. She told us to 'keep it up' before walking back to the stands as the referee blew the whistle. Everyone went back to their positions.

As I walked towards the middle of the pitch, Jess nudged me roughly in my rips which nearly made me topple over. She sniggered and ran to the other end of the pitch. As I got to the middle, there was a rumble of thunder as a black cloud hovered over us. The other team captain and I looked up at the sky. A raindrop fell onto her cheek. She wiped it away furiously and glared at me, fire in her eyes.

The referee lifted his hand in the air again and blew the whistle to start the second half of the game. But this time, it was me who got the ball and was dribbling with it first. We scored our ninth goal.

It was halfway through the second half and it was pouring with rain. The crowd sat in the stands were all holding umbrellas above their heads. As I was getting closer to the goal with the ball, I could feel water seeping into my shoes and my heels slipping in the mud. There were some flashes of lightening and loud rumbles of thunder, but it didn't put anyone off the game.

As I was about to hit the ball into the goal again, Jess, who was right behind me, pushed me over and got the ball into the goal herself. As she pushed me over, I stood on my own ankle and fell to the ground on my right arm, sliding across the wet mud.

I was in pain.

My arm was throbbing yet I had no feeling in my ankle. I heard a few people calling my name and my team and Miss Sharpe surrounded me.

"Please tell me you're okay Kayleigh." Miss Sharpe whined as she knelt down in the mud beside me.

"Just give her some air!" Lisa snapped, pushing some people back. Angie knelt down on the other side of me. Before I knew it, my dad was in front of me with my family, McFly and some of the other people in the crowd surrounding me.

Dad being the doctor he is examined my ankle. "Can you feel it, Kay?" He asked.

I shook my head but then flinched in pain as he lifted it.

"Yeah, that hurts." I groaned as I gripped onto Angie's arm for support.

Dad stood up. "She can't play." He mumbled.

"There's only fifteen minutes left of the game. She's can't just _not_ play!" Miss Sharpe shouted.

"My daughter has twisted her ankle and I refuse to let her play anymore. There's no way she'll be able to walk on that, let alone run on it," He then turned to Jess and pointed at her. "That was a foul," He hissed. "I saw you push her over on purpose. I'll be talking to your parents."

Jess said nothing and lowered her head in embarrassment.

Miss Sharpe, who looked devastated, stood up. "Someone take her inside then."

"I will!"

I looked up and saw Tom squeezing his way through the crowd. He bent down beside me, wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me up. Everyone fell silent as Tom helped me hobble along towards the medical room, but he knew that I was struggling to hop so he ended up lifting me up onto his back.

As we got closer to the school building, the whistle was blown and the last fifteen minutes of the game went on without me. Tom and I said nothing as we walked through the school. I wrapped my arms around his neck loosely like a monkey.

Once we reached the medical room, he put me down on a chair and went to get a nurse. I listened to his footsteps as they echoed down the corridor and once they were gone, I let out a loud sigh of relief.

I wasn't going to let that down. Jess had purposely pushed me over just to get her turn to score a goal. I couldn't believe it.

"Kayleigh?"

I looked up and saw my dad. He smiled and walked into the medical room.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat in a chair opposite.

I shook my head. "I'm furious!"

"So am I. She had no right to do that."

"Dad," I started. "What happens if we don't get into the finals again this year? What happens if I can't play hockey ever again because of my ankle."

"Kayleigh," Dad said quickly. "It's just a twisted ankle. It'll be better in a few days time if you just rest it." He stood up and started to search the cupboards. "Is there any ice here?"

"Tom has gone to fetch a nurse."

Dad paused for a moment. "That's very sweet of him."

That was when Tom came back with the nurse. The nurse hovered in the doorway for a moment and sighed, leaning against the doorframe.

"Kayleigh Slovenia," She said and started to tut. "What on earth am I going to do with you young lady?"

I smiled weakly.

"Okay, what have you done this time?"

"She's twisted her ankle." Dad answered.

The nurse looked a little startled. "Oh, Mr Slovenia," She said. "I didn't see you there." She turned to me and picked up my right ankle gingerly. She examined it and nodded.

"Yeah, it is twisted." She said and carelessly dropped my foot on the floor. I squinted in pain.

"Well, Kayleigh, there's not much you can do but rest it."

Dad stood up. "And I'll talk to Mr Hobbs about taking the day off tomorrow. You can't walk on it." The nurse agreed before leaving. Tom smiled as he helped me up. We paused as we left the medical room. Dad and Tom looked at each other.

Dad sighed and stroked my face. "I'll see you later," He then looked at Tom again. "And take care of her."

Tom nodded. "I'll do my best." He replied as dad walked away. With that, Tom hauled me up onto his back and walked through the school. "I'm impressed. You're a natural when it comes to playing hockey. We all agreed."

I smiled. Tom carried me outside where it was still pouring with rain. He took me to the stands and placed me down beside Danny. I huddled under his black umbrella as he placed his arm around my waist. Mum, who was sat in front of me, turned round, took my hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Nothing else was said till the game finished. I rested my head on Danny, wishing that I was out there, helping my team win the match.

* * *

We lost to King Edwards. They had beaten us by one point in those fifteen minutes. The crowd fell silent as the final whistle blew at the end of the game. Lisa and Angie helped me walk to the changing rooms. As the other girls were getting changed, I sat down on the bench and looked at my foot. My ankle was a little less painful but it had swollen up. I looked across the changing rooms and I saw Jess saying something to Jenny who rolled her eyes as she took her sleek black hair out of her neat bun.

The changing room fell silent as Miss Sharpe came in. She looked disappointed but didn't tell us off. She congratulated us and said that that was about as much as we could do. She turned to me and apologised that I never got to the finals. As she left, everyone's attention turned to me. The whole room became somewhat awkward and silent as the girls changed out of their hockey gear.

Later that afternoon, the rain had stopped and Lisa, Angie and I sat down on the stands, looking out at the empty field. Lisa and Angie were sat either side of me. The crowd had already left.

We were sat in silence and Lisa started to slurp on her can coke loudly as the wind started to blow. Angie and I looked at her as she casually lifted the lid of her cup and gazed at the ice cubes floating on the surface.

She then looked at us. "What?"

I smiled and shook my head as I started to poke my ulcer with my tongue, trying to stop it from hurting

"Well at least we tried," Angie started. "Besides, it's not like either of us plan to take a career in hockey."

"Yeah, but it would have been nice to get into the finals the year we left school." Lisa replied and slurped more of her coke. I glanced down at the small ice cubes floating about in Lisa's coke. I quickly grabbed a handful of them and put them in my mouth and onto my cheek where my ulcer was. Lisa looked at me in disgust before she carried on drinking.

"I might not be in school tomorrow." I mumbled but my words weren't clear enough due to the ice cubes. After a moments silence as Lisa and Angie waited for me to speak again, I spat out the ice cubes onto my hand and dropped them back into Lisa's coke. Lisa did nothing.

"I said I might not be in tomorrow." I repeated.

"Is your ankle that bad?" Angie asked. I shrugged and then looked at my ankle. It had swelled up. I then looked back at Lisa who was looking disgustedly at her drink as she put it down. I rolled my eyes and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees.

"Dad said that I have twisted it and he wants me to rest it as much as I can."

"Don't forget we're going to Katy's half birthday party tomorrow night and we have a geography trip over the weekend."

I sighed. "I'm not sure how I can get to the party. I'm still grounded."

Lisa looked a bit stuck for words but then Angie said,

"Well, to make you feel better, Mrs Sharpe has disqualified Jess from the hockey team due to bad behaviour."

I sighed. It made no difference whether she was still in the team or not because that was our last ever match. I went to put my arms around Lisa and Angie's shoulders but they moved away.

"But, its best if we no longer touch because I don't to catch your cold. Nor do I want an ulcer," Lisa said as she drew a heart in the air with her fingers. "I love you."

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh … you _love_ me?" I said as she stood up. I smiled and stood up. "Right, I'm gonna get you!" Lisa laughed and ran off as Angie and I ran after her.

Angie's mother drove us home when school finished. Mum and dad were arguing again when I walked in. They fell silent as I hopped into the kitchen, using the wall as a support.

"How's your ankle?" Mum asked calmly as dad went to help me.

"Could have been better." I replied as dad helped me get to the stairs.

"I'll be phoning Mr Hobbs about Jess later." Dad said as he pulled me up onto his side and helped me up the stairs.

"Dad," I said as we got halfway up the stairs. "I know I'm grounded but I've been invited to Katy Thompson's house party …"

"And you want to go?" Dad said, finishing off my sentence. "And the answer is no. I may have toned down the whole grounding idea a little but I assume the party is after six?" I nodded. "You need to rest your ankle. You'll be doing a lot of walking while out in Brighton this weekend."


	7. Chapter 6

**Friday 11th April**

I was woken up by the sound of Dakota barking loudly at the doorbell. It was eleven that morning and I was allowed the day off school, just to rest my ankle. Lovely Little Liam too was home as he was 'sick' with the flu. Or that's what he said when in actual fact; he pretended to be ill so he could look after me for the day. Dad was out at work and mum was in town. I closed my eyes, wanting to get back to sleep, but the doorbell rang again and Dakota barked even louder.

Liam answered the door.

I couldn't hear who it was but Liam had allowed them into the house. I could vaguely hear Liam say,

"She's still in bed at the moment. She'll be down in a minute. Would you like some coffee?" The door closed and I only heard some ruffling voices down in the kitchen.

Before I could get back to sleep, Dakota had jumped onto my bed and started to lick my face. I could feel his tail hitting against the bed sheets.

Reluctantly, I pushed Dakota off the bed and made my way to the stairs. My ankle seemed a little better and I was able to walk on it, yet it still ached quite a bit. I rubbed my eyes lazily as I hobbled down the stairs. Dakota ran passed me. I heard his claws scrape on the tiled floor as he ran to our guest.

"Who is it, Liam?" I groaned as I stepped onto the tiled floor.

There was silence in the room, apart from the sound of Dakota panting.

It was Danny, leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee in his hands. He was wearing baggy jeans and a navy blue t-shirt. I was still in my pyjamas. So was Liam. He was wearing his power rangers dressing gown.

Danny said, 'Hi'.

I froze on the spot. The words "I'll just go and get myself ready" came out of my mouth, and before I knew it; I was up the stairs and in the bathroom. I had a quick shower, got dressed, brushed my hair and put on some make up. Once I was done, I walked down the stairs, wondering why Danny was there.

He was laughing with Liam.

Danny smiled at me as I came back down. He gestured me to join them, so I sat on the counter next to Liam.

"Katy has invited us to her party tonight." Danny said.

I raised my eyebrows. "The whole band?" I asked. "Are you going?"

Danny shrugged. "Are you?"

I glanced at Liam.

"Dad will be working this evening. You could sneak out." Liam suggested.

I sighed. "I don't know. My ankle still hasn't properly healed."

"But you're walking on it fine," Danny said as he glanced at my ankle. "How is it?"

"Better than it was yesterday."

"Has Jess apologised?"

I shook my head. "She wouldn't. She did it on purpose."

Danny said nothing. There was a moments silence and Liam let out a loud sigh.

"Why are you here anyway, Danny?" I asked.

Danny shuffled on the spot and smiled a little. "Because I wanted to see you and check if you're okay," He looked over at Liam. "And your brother looks like he needs cheering up. He's not _feeling_ too well."

I folded my arms as Dakota jumped up on the counter. Danny scratched him behind the ears. Then Liam groaned loudly.

"Okay, seriously, guys," He said. "When will you guys just date each other already? It's so obvious that you both are _so _in love. Just ask her out, Danny!"

Danny and I exchanged glances before laughing out loud. Danny then punched Liam on the shoulder playfully.

"Just give us time."

I smiled broadly as I ruffled his hair before pulling him closer to me as I hugged him.

"Really, I want you both to go out because I like the person Kayleigh is when she's with you," Liam looked at me. "I love my big sister, but _not_ when she stops telling me things." Liam prodded my arm which made me laugh even more. He then slid off the counter and went to have a shower.

Danny laughed once more as he watched Liam walk up the stairs. He then turned to me, held my hands and rested his forehead against mine.

"Promise you'll come to the party tonight?" Danny whispered.

I leaned back. "What happens if anyone sees us together?"

Danny frowned a little. "And that's a bad thing?"

I froze before shaking my head.

Danny kissed me softly on the lips before picking me up and carrying me into the sitting room. We snuggled down on the sofa and watched the music channels on the telly. We spent most of the morning talking. Danny had his arm around my shoulders and was stroking my arm.

"Danny," I started. I paused in my tracks, not wanting to say any more.

Danny looked at me in the eyes. There was a pause of silence before he leaned in for a kiss, pushing me down. My head fell into the cushion as I kissed him back.

I was lying down on the sofa and Danny was on top of me, running his fingers through my hair. As soon as I wrapped my arms round Danny's neck, pulling his body closer to mine, the door opened. Danny quickly sat up and Liam froze on the spot. I picked up a cushion and chucked it at him.

"Liam, get _out_!" I shouted and he ran out the room, laughing. Danny laughed too. Nothing else was said.

It was later that afternoon and once mum came home from town, she asked me to wash the car. Danny left the house shortly before mum came home.

The sky that day was covered in a layer of grey clouds and the sun tried to peep through. I stole dad's radio from the garage and played it loudly as I washed the car. It wasn't until I got halfway through washing the car that I found Dougie standing on the other side of the car, watching me with a smile on his face. I screamed when I saw him and hid behind the car. I slowly stood up. Dougie was laughing.

"Don't do that, Dougie!" I said, shaking a little with freight.

"Do what?" Dougie asked as he finished laughing.

"Sneaking up on me like that. I don't like it when people make me jump," I smiled as I started rubbing the car roof with a wet sponge. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I wanted to come and say hello as I haven't had the time to talk to you this week." Dougie said as he picked up the spare sponge and helped me clean the car.

"You saw me play hockey yesterday."

"And I'm impressed. You're a good player," He pursed his lips. "How's your ankle."

"Better," I replied. "Just aches a little. That's all." I paused and frowned at my reflection in the car window. I threw the wet sponge angrily into the soapy water. "And because of Jess, we're out of the tournament!" I sat down on the ground by the car wheel, feeling my hatred towards Jess rise up inside me. Dougie sighed and sat down beside me. We sat in silence as the wind blew, until I said,

"Danny said that you guys are going to Katy's party tonight."

Dougie nodded. "She invited us," He looked at me. "Are you?"

I shrugged as I fiddled with my watch on my wrist. "I'm still grounded. Yet Danny was asking me to go and Liam was encouraging me to sneak out."

"I think you should go."

"Maybe."

The wind blew again as Dougie stood up and walked towards the other side of the car. I smiled to myself but then wondered what Dougie was doing, so I stood up and saw that he had disappeared. I looked around but there was no sign of Dougie. A little confused as to where he went, I called out his name and out of the blue, Dougie had jumped out from behind the car and squirted me with the water hose. I screamed as the cold water hit me. Dougie burst into fits of laughter as he ran across our front lawn with the water hose still in his hands. I picked up the bucket of water and started to chuck it in his direction. We were both soaked and laughing out loud, throwing water at each other until the front door opened and mum stood in the doorway.

"Kayleigh, have you finished?" She called.

"Almost." I called back and the door closed again.

Dougie and I started to laugh once more.

It was six that evening and I snuck out the house. My three brothers were too going to the party and mum gave them a lift there. I said that I wasn't feeling well and that I was going to bed. As I closed the bedroom door, I picked up my rucksack with my party stuff in and climbed out the window. I slid onto the garage roof, closed the window behind me and jumped down onto the drive before running off to Angie's house.

Angie was lying on her stomach, on her bed, reading a magazine and singing along to one of Busted's songs. I was taking out all my clothes I had bought with me and asked Angie to give her opinion of what I should wear.

"How about this one?" I asked as I picked up the top I wore when we saw McFly live for the first time. Angie looked at me through the mirror, looked pensive for a couple of seconds but then shook her head. I rolled my eyes and dropped the top on the floor. She suggested that I should wear something that I usually didn't wear. Like a dress but I wasn't too keen on the idea. I picked up a strapless blue dress with a polka dot pattern on. I sighed and dropped it on the floor. Angie closed her magazine and climbed off her bed. She walked to my clothes pile saying that I should wear a dress just to be a little different as I never wore them. She picked up a dress and showed it to me. The top half of the dress was red and it had a big blue and white stripy bow stitched on the front. The skirt was navy blue and had layers to it, which was just above knee length. I took the dress out of Angie's hands and agreed to wear it as her mum came into the room to give us a sandwich and some crisps. We both sat on the floor and started to eat. Angie got out her magazine and we had a flick through it.

We got changed and did our hair and make up after eating. Once we were ready, Angie's mum gave us a lift in.

Katy's party was held at her house which was only a couple of roads away from the town centre. Her house was slap bang in the middle of the street, surrounded by a long line of houses that went up the hill. Angie's mum was driving slowly, trying to find a space to park as everywhere else was full. She had to drop us off further up the road.

"Have a good time girls." She said before driving off.

Angie and I took in a big deep breathe before walking up the street towards Katy's house. We walked slowly and nervously as we saw more and more cars with people from our school inside pass by. We noticed a group of large boys, all wearing trackie bottoms and hoodies stood on the other side of the road.

"Do you think _they're_ going?" Angie asked as we passed them.

I frowned, watching the boys as they all turned to look at us. "I won't be surprised. Katy allows anyone to arrive uninvited to her parties."

"But do you remember what happened last year?"

I hesitated for a moment as our walking pace became slower and slower. "I don't know, Angie. It might not be as hectic as it was last year."

The loud booming music was getting louder and louder as we got closer and I could see flashing lights from Katy's house. We had to stop when we were a couple of houses away as there was a long queue leading up to her house. I sighed, folding my arms, feeling the cold air around me as the wind started to blow. Angie and I said nothing. I looked at the house beside us and wondered if the neighbours ever complained about Katy's house parties.

It was only another five minutes until Angie and I got to the gates of Katy's house, where Tracie, Jenny, Katy, Jess and Chloe were stood. They all looked the same.

"I'm impressed," Katy said as she saw me. "I thought you wouldn't come." I glanced over at my sister who was awkwardly looking down at the ground.

"People change their minds." I replied.

There was a moments silence between us and I could feel Angie prodding me in the back, wanting me to go inside. As I stepped forward, Jess grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me close to her.

"Listen smart arse, I'm not having any funny behaviour from you tonight, got that?" She hissed through gritted teeth.

"Aye, aye, captain." I replied as I snatched a free drinks ticket out of Jenny's hands. Angie and I walked into the house. The hallway was jam-packed full of people. I gripped hold of Angie's hand and pulled her along as we squeezed our way round everyone to get into the sitting room where there only a few people. There were a couple from the lower year on the sofa together. His hand was already up her dress.

"Well, this party is already heading off somewhere." Angie shouted to me over the loud music. I nodded and found my way into the kitchen where Katy's mum was putting plates full of food onto the tables and counters. Angie took my free drinks ticket and gave it to Katy's mum who poured us each a glass of vodka and coke. I reluctantly took the drink and sipped it, not liking the strong taste of the vodka. Katy's mum ushered us out of the kitchen and told us to go out to the garden. I looked at Angie as we squeezed our way through the crowd. I had gripped onto Angie's hand, hoping that I wouldn't lose her.

We eventually got outside which was still busy, but not as crowded as it was inside the house. By the side of the house, Katy's dad was by the BBQ, cooking up some more burgers and hot dogs. In the middle of the garden, there was a DJ and a load of people dancing by it. There were colourful fairy lights hanging above our heads.

Angie and I stood on the decking, watching everyone. Angie was bobbing up and down to the beat of the music as she took more sips out of her vodka and coke.

"I wonder why he's not here." I pondered aloud.

"Who?" Angie asked.

Just then, a bottle of beer smashed at our feet. Angie and I jumped back.

"Sorry ladies!" Someone called. We looked up and saw a load of people standing above us on the balcony. A boy who I hadn't seen before at school was leaning over the balcony rails, looking down at us. He looked somewhat guilty, but a girl pulled him away.

Angie sighed and shook her head. "He's already a drunken mess."

We both paused before noticing Lisa standing at the far end of the garden, by a bush with Sam. She gestured us to join her once she saw us.

"I thought you'd never come!" She said cheerfully as we reached her.

I smiled and looked nervously round the garden. McFly hadn't appeared and I was starting to wonder if they would turn up. But before I could mention it, there was the sound of girls screaming hysterically. At first, we all thought that something bad had happened but as the four of us turned round, McFly had stepped through the doorway and onto the decking. Angie squealed with delight. Not caring that other people were watching her, Angie ran up to Harry and jumped into his arms. He smiled gleefully, obviously pleased to see her. Lisa, Sam and I started to walk over to the McFly boys and other people from the party backed away, looking rather envious. Dougie smiled when we reached them.

"So you came in the end." He said.

"Took me a while to decide." I replied as I looked over his shoulder. I saw Danny with Jess. He took a couple of steps away from her but she gripped hold of his wrist, pulling him towards her.

The party went on for what seemed like ages and people were still dancing about non stop. There were plenty of drunken people running around the house, naked and getting it on with one another. Katy's parents didn't do anything about it.

Lisa and Angie had walked off with their boyfriends and Dougie and Tom were taken away by some other girls. I stood on the balcony of the house, over-looking the garden, and watching the drunken people down below dancing and spilling their drinks over each other. I was debating whether or not I wanted to go home as I wasn't enjoying myself, but as I looked up I saw Danny, squeezing past people, trying to get to me. I smiled broadly as he joined me.

"Enjoying the party?" I asked.

Danny shrugged. "Seen better." He said as he rested his arms on the wooden balustrade. I did the same. A couple of minutes of silence went by. We were watching everyone else, screaming, getting drunk and dancing about on the wooden decking below us. There were a few people jumping about on the balcony too.

"I guess your ankle has made a full recovery." Danny said loudly above the music.

I laughed a little. "It just aches," I replied. "My mum thinks I'm at home in bed, so I don't plan to do anything silly."

"Do you wanna go?"

I paused for a moment. "You wanna leave the party?"

Danny shrugged. "We could find somewhere different to go tonight. I'll take you out. Your treat."

I smiled. "That'd be great."

Danny smiled too and leaned in to kiss me on the lips. As he did so, I heard someone scream my name. We both quickly drew away from each other and saw standing on the wooden decking down below, my sister and her 'girlfriends' looking up at us. My three brothers who were flirting with girls, stopped to look at us. Danny and I froze for a moment. I wanted to be invisible. I wanted to run away and hide, knowing that Jess would never live that down.

How could Danny and I be so careless? I knew how much trouble we would be in if Jess had found out.

I found Jordan by my side, pushing me towards the stairs and down to the decking. Danny and I exchanged glances, thinking the same thing. We wanted to leave right away. I dreaded to think what Jess was going to do.

As we got to the decking, Jess stormed up to Danny, looking rather infuriated.

"How could you do this Danny?" She screamed. "How could you do that to a sad low life like Kayleigh?!" Before Danny could get a word out, Jess slapped him across the face before turning to me. "You're going to regret you ever lived, Kayleigh Slovenia." She barked before pushing me and storming off. Sam, Lisa, Angie and McFly all came to stand by us. Chloe, Jenny and Katy pushed passed us. Tracie froze, shaking her head at me before following Jess. My three brothers were still watching me.

Ignoring everyone else, I turned to Danny and touched him lightly on the arm. "I'm so sorry, Danny," I said feeling rather guilty. "I never asked for any of this to happen."

Danny shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Kayleigh," He put his arm around me in an embrace. "Let's just leave now …" But as he said so, I felt someone pulling us apart. I looked up to see James and Chris.

"James?" I asked. I didn't know he even came to the party.

James' glance changed from me to Danny and back to me. "Oh, I see what's going on here. Let's take this out front shall we?"

"Just leave them alone, James," Chris said trying to pull James back. "Let's not ruin the party." But James ignored him as he shoved his jacket in my arms, and walked back into the house.

Danny looked at me and shrugged, before following James.

"What have you got yourself into this time, Kayleigh?" Lisa hissed as Danny left. I said nothing and followed the boys to the front of the house. In fact, most of the people at the party followed us outside.

We all got to the front garden. James was standing there, rolling his sleeves up. Danny, on the other hand looked around clueless. Harry, Dougie, Tom, Sam, Angie and Lisa were the first people to come out to the front lawn, after me. My three brothers eventually followed as well as some other people from the party. The crowd seemed somewhat excited. I felt fear run through my body.

"We're going to handle this man–to–man then, Danny." James growled as he walked closer to Danny. My heart pounded in my chest. I was scared. Surely James wasn't planning on fighting Danny?

"What are you trying to say?" Danny asked.

James smirked and hit Danny in the face. The crowed gasped as Danny stepped back, his hand over his mouth. I was about to run forward to stop them both but Sam gripped hold of my arm to stop me.

"Let Danny get him back first." He whispered.

There was silence before the crowd started to chant "Fight, fight, fight," while someone rushed into the house to get more people to watch the fight. Dan and Thomas started chanting but Liam looked worried. He was watching me.

"Given up yet, Danny?" James said cackling. Danny frowned, wiping the blood from his lip and ran forward to hit James in the stomach. James fell back, coughing. Everyone started to cheer and jump up and down on the spot. Once James controlled his breathing, he managed to run to hit Danny, who hit him right back.

"Stop them, Kayleigh!" Lisa shouted. "For God's sake, just _do_ something before it gets worse! Take control. Stop the mess which you created!"

My feet were planted in the ground and I wasn't able to control my own limbs. I felt someone prod me in the back and I managed ran forward and screamed as loud as I could.

"STOP! I ORDER YOU BOTH TO STOP AT ONCE!"

Everyone fell silent. All eyes were on me. James and Danny watched me, breathing heavily; both having cuts and grazes over their faces. There was a long pause of silence. I too was breathing heavily.

Just then someone started to laugh. I didn't need to turn round to know that it was Screaming Lord Thomas. Then the whole crowd started to laugh. James, Danny nor I found it funny.

I paused, as everything seemed to go in slow motion as James raised his arm, his fist clenched.

"No, please, James, DON'T!" I pleaded, gripping onto the top of my hair.

But James ignored me and hit Danny once again which made him fall to the ground. The laughter stopped abruptly and there was another long pause of silence. I ran to Danny and bent down beside him. He was shaking as he pushed himself up on his elbows. I put my hand on his cheek where it was bleeding. Tom ran and knelt beside Danny too. I felt tears sting my eyes as I looked up at James and frowned. He was stood in the middle of the lawn, looking down at us, blood pouring out of his mouth and nose. Cuts all over his face.

"What is your _problem_?!" I shouted.

James looked at me in disgust. "_My_ problem?"

"Yes _you_!" I pursed my lips and shook my head. "This is silly! Don't you have any thought as to what the consequences of your actions may be? You think its right to dump me and then go straight out with Chloe yet get all pissed off when you see me with someone else! Clearly you cannot control your feelings." James didn't reply. I looked out at the crowd. "And just so you know, James is a liar! He was the one who dumped me and all that crap he said about me is utter bollocks!"

The crowd all turned to James.

I looked back down and Danny and stroked his cheek gingerly.

"You okay?" I asked softly, holding back the tears.

"I've been better." Danny said weakly. Dougie, Harry and Sam ran to help Danny up on his feet. I looked over at Lisa and Angie. Angie had her hand over her mouth in shock. There was a small chatter coming from the crowd and Katy's parents came out the front door. They pushed through the crowd to get to us.

"I think it's about time that you should leave young man!" Her dad ordered pointing at James. "What gives you the right to start a fight at my house? GET OUT!"

James turned and walked out the gate as Katy's mum ran over to us.

"You okay sweetheart?" She asked Danny, sweetly but Danny said nothing.

"We'll go." I said as I pulled Danny towards the gate.

Katy's mum smiled before turning around and pushing everyone back into the house.

"Take care of him." Tom said, squeezing my shoulder. I nodded and glanced at my three brothers who were still watching me as they were pushed into the house.

Danny and I walked through the streets in silence. Every so often, I saw Danny wipe the blood off his face from the corner of my eye.

My mind was racing. I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn't think of the right words and I was scared of what his reaction would be. Because of me, Danny was getting hurt and I couldn't stand it. It hurt me knowing what was happening to him. It was all my fault and I never wanted it to happen to him again.

Danny led the way to the flat where he and his band were staying in. It was right in the middle of the town centre so the walk from Katy's house didn't take that long.

Danny turned on the lights as we entered the flat.

"Uhm, just go into the bathroom and I'll be with you in a minute." I said my voice a little shaky. Danny nodded and walked into the bathroom which was on the other side of the hallway. I breathed in heavily and walked into their kitchen. I rummaged through the cupboards, looking for towels, flannels, antiseptic wipes and plasters. I wanted dad with me to help take care of Danny but I knew how much trouble I would be in if my parents found out that I snuck out the house to go the to the party, especially after dad told me not to. I found a bucket in the cupboard under the sink and I filled it with warm, soapy water. I grabbed a flannel and put it in the bucket to let it soak up all the water.

I sighed heavily and carried it into the bathroom. Danny took off his shirt. He smiled weakly before sitting on the edge of the bath. He had cuts and bruises all over his body where James had beaten him. I knelt down beside him, rinsed out the wet flannel and started to tenderly dab his cuts. Danny flinched slightly. I rinsed the blood off the flannel and washed it in the bucket to keep it clean. I washed off the blood round his elbow and slowly cleaned his face. I pulled his hair back and dabbed the side of his cheek with the warm flannel. I asked where he kept the plasters. Danny pointed to a cabinet in the corner of the bathroom, not saying a word. I stood up and opened the cabinet, taking out a box of plasters. I knelt down beside him as he whispered,

"You really don't have to do this Kayleigh."

I looked down at the plaster box as I took out a plaster. "I'm not letting you suffer in pain." I answered as I carefully placed the plasters onto his cuts. Once I had finished, I looked up at Danny. He cupped his hand on my cheek and stroked it with this thumb. "Danny," I started, pulling away from him. "We need to sort this out," I took the wooden stool which was under the sink and sat on it. "Danny, I don't think it's safe if we see each other."

Danny frowned. "What?"

"I like you, Danny, I _really_ do but I'm putting you into danger by being with you."

"Maybe we could work round it?"

"If only," I looked down at my hands. "I can't seem to do anything without Jess finding out and after seeing what James did to you, I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Please don't do this, Kayleigh. We can work it out."

I shook my head. I had my dad's voice in my head, telling me that sometimes hurting people may keep them safe. "Danny, I don't see how this is going to work out. After everything that happened between James and I, I don't think I can bring myself to get into another relationship. And with everything going on right now, I don't have any room to fit a relationship in. Nor do I have the heart or the emotion," I paused as I looked at Danny's upset face. "I'm sorry."

Danny nodded slowly after a while. "Me too."

Trying to hold back the tears, I stood up and left. I closed the door to their flat behind me and ran home as the wind started to blow at my face. I let my tears roll down my face as I got closer to home.

As I ran, I looked round at the buildings that I past and it felt like they were crumbling down, yet in times like that, I wouldn't build them up again. I didn't think that I would be the one to chase him, but at the same time, he's the first boy I've felt myself when he's around. I was always stuck with those emotions; and the more I tried to feel, the less I felt whole. I wanted to go back and be with Danny and tell him that I was sorry. I wanted to do anything to be in a relationship with him but I knew that I needed to keep him out of trouble, and not being with him would keep him safe.

* * *

It was later that evening and my three brothers came home from the party. Tracie stayed at Katy's house. I managed to climb onto the garage roof and sneak back into the bedroom. I quickly changed back into my pyjamas and took off my make up before going downstairs. Mum had left to visit Uncle Robbie and my three brothers didn't mention the fight at all.

It was close to midnight and I poured myself a glass of Sunny D as Screaming Lord Thomas and Liam played a game of snooker. I walked into the lounge to find Headband Dan sat on the sofa, talking on the phone. As soon as he saw me, he quickly hung up and hid the phone from me.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked before drinking some of the Sunny D.

"No one." He replied bluntly, looking very rigid on the sofa.

I raised an eyebrow. "But you were on the phone."

"Coming mum!" Dan called and jumped to his feet.

I looked at the door and back at him, a little puzzled. "Mum's not home."

Dan frowned. "_You're_ not home." He hissed left the lounge.

Feeling rather bewildered, I fell onto the sofa and started to watch the telly. I flicked through the channels but there was nothing on. All I could think about was the look on Danny's face as I left him. It was tattooed on my mind.


	8. Chapter 7

**Saturday 12th April**

Mum woke me up earlier than usual as I had to be a school by seven to leave for Brighton. I lay in bed for a while, trying to figure out that what happened at the party the night before was true. As I sat up and saw my dress I wore to the party at the end of my bed, crumpled in a heap, I felt a rush of sadness flow through me. As I reluctantly clambered out of bed, I thought that the geography trip to Brighton could be a good way to clear my mind to everything that happened.

After I had a shower, I put my hair in a high pony tail and walked down to the kitchen, carrying my rucksack.

"Is that all you're taking?" Mum asked, holding Dakota in her arms.

I dropped the bag on the tiled floor and headed for the fridge. "We're only going away for the night; I'll be back tomorrow evening." I said gruffly as I reached for a bottle of Sunny D, only remembering that mum and dad had stopped me some having the drink.

"But what happens if you get muddy? You will be hiking around the town …"

"Mum!" I hissed, interrupting her sentence, "This _is_ Brighton we're talking about. You know what it's like; you went there two weeks ago."

"Well don't blame me if it starts to rain." Mum mumbled and turned to leave the house. I sighed, picked up my bag and clambered into the passenger seat of the car. We reversed out of the drive. I looked out the window, holding down Dakota on my lap. The sun was shining and it was quite hot, unlike the past weeks where it was slightly chilly.

As we parked in the school car park, mum reminded me to remember my pleases and thank you's and not to spend all my money on things I didn't need. I looked at Dakota who was wagging his little tail vigorously, looking up at me. I said nothing as I pushed him off my lap and got out the car.

"Love you!" Mum called but I ignored her and slammed the door shut, swinging my rucksack onto my back. Mum waved at me before driving away. I sighed and stood on the spot for a couple of seconds, watching her car drive off into the distance. I sighed and turned round, walking into school where all the people in my geography class were getting registered. My geography teacher, Mr Fredwick, who was ticking names off the register, glanced up at me.

"You're late, Miss Slovenia." He said dully. I nodded and dumped my bag down where everyone else had put them. I looked up to see that Jess and Chloe, who were in my geography class, were glaring at me and whispering to each other. I ignored them as I walked over to Lisa and Angie who were sat on the floor in the corner, smiling at me. I forced a smile back.

"Are you okay?" Angie asked as I sat down.

I nodded. "Brilliant."

Lisa and Angie exchanged glances. I knew that they wanted to ask me about Danny, but I didn't want to tell anyone. I wanted to forget what happened. It wasn't long until Lisa started to talk about Sam but I wasn't listening.

Mr Fredwick finally called everyone to get onto the coach once we all arrived. I sat next to Angie who was playing with her rubix cube. As she and Lisa started to talk about songs that we could sing at our next gig, I listened to the music on my ipod, watching the world go by. However, all I could think about was Danny. It was like he was stuck in my head forever, and I couldn't seem to get the look on his face the night before, out of my mind. I closed my eyes tighter and before I knew it, I had already fallen asleep.

I woke up half an hour later by the sound of Angie calling my name and nudging me. I opened my eyes.

"We're here!" Angie said excitedly. I squinted my eyes as I looked out the window; the sun was shining in my face. We were parked in the car park right by our hotel which was opposite the beach. I realised that the beach looked no different to the one back home in Eastbourne. However, it looked more cheerful than Eastbourne. The sky was clear blue and there were no clouds in sight. I pulled myself out of the coach seat and followed the rest of my class out the coach. Some people took off their coats and hoodies and got out summer hats and sun glasses. There was a massive change in the weather and the way people acted between Brighton and Eastbourne. Brighton seemed to be a happier place to live.

We waited by the side of the bus, waiting for Mr Fredwick to come out and give us some detail on what we were doing. I looked at Angie who was already taking photos of the buildings and the beach. She then looked back at me,

"What?" She asked.

I shook my head. "I forgot to bring my camera."

Lisa sighed and shook her head but Angie was kind enough to allow me to borrow some of her photos if needed.

Mr Fredwick came out of the bus, wearing huge, rounded sunglasses, three-quarter length trousers and a short sleeved checked shirt.

"Okay," He started, looking at each and every one of us. "I know that you all must be very excited to be here as the weather is warm and refreshing, and that the beach is slightly better than it is back at home, but this is no time to be fooling around. I will give you free time soon to wake up from the journey and to stretch your legs. But I only want you to go along the beach and no where else." Everyone started to whinge and whine. "I'll let you loose for an hour and I want to meet you all back here, then we can get down to work!" He smiled at us, showing us all his white teeth. "And if you've all been good, I might let you all in a treat and let you eat somewhere special tonight." Everyone started to cheer and talk amongst one another.

The hotel we were staying in was called New Madeira Hotel and it was four stars. I wasn't too impressed as it looked like most of the hotels at Eastbourne. The reception looked rather grand and we all looked around in amazement.

It was a tight squeeze but the whole class managed to fit in the lift together. Mr Fredwick was stood in front of us, his nose pressed against the metal doors as it took us upwards. I was squished in the middle between Lisa and another boy in my class. It was impossible to move and there was some laughter as someone groaned because someone had elbowed them or stood on their foot. Then everyone started to complain about something or other. Then someone said how they felt sick. I felt claustrophobic. As the lift stopped and the door opened, everyone scrambled out. Mr Fredwick stood to the side and gave us each a card each with the number of our dorm. Lisa, Angie and I had room 308 which was right down the end of the long corridor. We quickly walked towards our room, carrying our bags. Lisa was the one to open the door and step inside it first. I felt a nice cool breeze as soon as I stepped in. We had a big window, over-looking the beach and the pier; there were three beds by it, each had white sheets and duvets folded perfectly onto the mattress. The colour of the walls was a mint green colour which made the room feel somewhat refreshing and clean. However, the ugly moss green carpet was not to my liking. We had a small bathroom with a bath, shower and a toilet.

"I like it." Angie said as she placed her bag onto the bed nearest the window.

Lisa shrugged. "Seen better."

I threw my bags down on the floor and opened a cupboard which was under the TV. There was a tray with a tea set sat on one of the shelves. There were also three chocolate muffins which I pulled out and placed on the top of the cupboard. I opened a black door which was inside the cupboard to reveal a mini fridge which had 3 ham sandwiches, 2 cans of coke and a small bottle of Sunny D.

"Well we've got our lunch sorted out." I said as I chucked the muffins and sandwiches to Lisa and Angie who both caught them. I then chucked the two cans of coke at them and got out the Sunny D for myself. We sat on the floor in a circle and started to eat. There was a knock on the door and it opened. Mr Fredwick popped his head round and smiled. His ash blonde hair looked rather ruffled and his moustache a little out of place. He reminded us that we had an hours break and to meet outside by the bus. He smiled at us again and left, closing the door behind him. We quickly ate our lunch and then stepped out the room to go outside to the beach. As we stepped out of the hotel, we could feel the warm air hitting our skin, making us feel hot. I could see that everyone else were already on the beach, throwing stones into the sea and messing about. Lisa brought us each a 99. We sat on the stony beach, watching the waves and eating our ice creams. They never mentioned Katy's party.

We spent most of the day walking around the town and doing surveys. We went to a history museum about the history of Brighton which most of the class found boring. However, I found it interesting. I wanted to know as much as I could about Brighton before moving there after my exams. I still hadn't told anyone about moving there. Lisa and Angie had no idea.

We went down to the beach again to study the rocks, seaweed and the waves. The class started to beg Mr Fredwick for a break to go on the pier but he said that we had to wait till the next day. Everyone started to whinge and whine like little children again.

The day went on and the sky got darker as the sun started to set. Mr Fredwick treated us out to a meal in an Italian restaurant which was just down the road from our hotel. We sat at the long table in the middle of the restaurant and I found myself sitting opposite Jess. There was a moment of tension between us as our gazes met. I was the first to look away as Lisa sat down beside me. Angie was on the other side of Lisa. I could see Lisa watching me from the corner of my eye.

After a while our food arrived. Everyone had the same: spaghetti bolognaise or pasta. I had pasta. I ate in silence with my head bowed, not wanting to say anything with Jess opposite. Mr Fredwick tried to engage the class in a conversation about geography and what we would do the next day. I don't think anyone paid any attention as we ate.

Everyone talked amongst themselves and Mr Fredwick tried to join in as we waited for the bill after eating our dessert. Everyone's voices seemed to be mumbles as I had flashbacks from the party. I thought about the fight between Danny and James and I heard my own voice ringing in my ears, ordering them to stop. Before I knew it, someone was tugging my arm. I shook my head and saw that everyone had stood up. Jess was taking her coat off the back of her chair and putting it on. I looked up at Lisa who was gesturing me to stand up. I did so and looked at Mr Fredwick.

"I'm just going to the toilet." I said quickly.

"Okay," Mr Fredwick answered. "You'll be alright to catch up with us?"

I nodded as I stepped away from the table and hurried to the girl's toilets. I rushed to the sink, holding onto the basin for support, looking at my reflection in the dusty mirror. I looked at my fiery red hair which I dyed the day I saw McFly live and wondered what life would have been like if I never went. I looked down at the sink and then back up to the mirror, listening to the Italian music which was playing quietly. The door opened and I quickly spun round only to find an old woman walk in. She smiled at me sweetly and walked into a cubical. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Most of the elderly couples in Eastbourne wouldn't think twice about smiling at me. I quickly left the toilets to find that Mr Fredwick and the class were gone. As I walked through the restaurant, one of the Italian waiters watched me.

"_Ciao bella_!" He called. I looked at him as he smiled and winked. I looked away in embarrassment and quickly left the restaurant. It was dark outside and I quickly walked up the street, my arms folded tightly across my chest. I turned to see if there were any cars coming up the road and as I was just about to cross the road, a taxi sped past and splashed me with a massive puddle at the side of the road. I stumbled backwards a little, gasping, the front half of me soaked. I turned round, not believing what happened, but another car sped past and splashed my back. I froze of the spot as it started to pour with rain. I was soaked from head to toe. I guessed that the fates were telling me something: dumb luck.

* * *

"What happened to _you_?" Lisa asked as I entered our hotel room. Lisa was sat cross-legged on her bed, in her pyjamas, painting her nails. Angie, who was lying on her back on her bed, reading a copy of _Smash Hits,_ suggested that I should take a shower as I looked rather grubby. As it was pouring with rain, they both guessed what happened.

I came out the shower wearing Lisa's pink dressing gown, rubbing hair with a towel. "Not only have I forgotten to bring some money with me, the rest of my clothes are completely stained with mud." I said walking out of the bathroom. Angie was standing by our mini kitchen making us some hot chocolate. Lisa started hanging my wet clothes on the radiator.

"Why don't you phone your parents?" Lisa suggested.

I shook my head. "No way. Mum was already telling me this morning that I might get muddy clothes …" I paused. Lisa glanced at me as she turned to sit back on her bed. I looked at the bed that I was supposed to be sleeping on, longing to dive in and sleep forever. Angie placed my cup of hot chocolate on the bedside table next to my bed and gave Lisa's hers.

"Did anyone bring a hair dryer with them?" I asked as Lisa put on her reading glasses and took out a book.

"In the bathroom." Lisa said, glancing at me over the top of her glasses.

I nodded and walked into the bathroom, taking my hair down from the bun. I turned on the sink taps and put my hand under the cold water before drying it on a towel. I took the hair dryer and turned it on, drying my hair and running my fingers through it, taking out all the knots. After a while, the hairdryer started to smoke. I looked at it, somewhat confused.

"Are hair dryers supposed to steam up like this?" I asked.

There was a pause.

"Uhm no?" Lisa eventually said. I could tell by her voice. She thought I was weird.

Just then, Angie shouted,

"Kayleigh, you've got the tap water running on the wire!"

I looked down. The wire of the hair dryer was under water. I had forgotten to turn the tap off after washing my hand. I froze, looking down at the water, not really knowing what the best thing would be to do.

Turn the tap off would be a start.

Before I had the chance to, sparks stared to come out of the hair dryer. I looked at it, frozen on the spot, scared as hell. The sparks became quite vigorous and made me jump each time. I accidentally hit the wall mirror with the hair dryer, leaving a crack across the middle. I paused, looking at the crack.

"Oh my god." I muttered to myself.

"Kayleigh, what are you doing?" Angie asked worriedly.

The hair dryer caught on fire. I screamed and chucked it in the bath. I didn't even think twice about the dangers of electricity when I turned the bath taps on. There were three loud bangs as the hair dryer sparked even more. Then all the lights turned out.

"Kayleigh!" Lisa shouted.

I could hear some people from the room next door screaming. I heard doors opening and voices out in the corridor. A mans voice from the corridor shouted, "Okay, who's the idiot?" and then someone else shouted, "Nice work!"

I just sat down on the floor by the toilet, breathing heavily. Lisa and Angie started to rummage around in our room.

"Kay, are you okay, sweetie?" Angie said, grabbing a torch and flicking it on. "Hold on, sweetie, we're coming."

"I broke a mirror," I mumbled. "The second mirror this year."

Angie shone the touch around the bathroom, looking at the mess I made. She then shone the torch in my face.

"Guys, what is going on with me?" I asked, looking up at them. "I can't take an extra seven years of this. Fourteen years of bad luck. I can't take it! Ever since James dumped me a couple of weeks ago, it's like I'm the unluckiest person in the world. I can't do anything right anymore!"

"Okay, Kay, calm down, alright?" Lisa said, kneeling down beside me. "You're just getting over paranoid now. You're superstitious. Don't they say that the wheel of fate always spins back? Everything will fall into place soon."

"Oh my god," I muttered, "What have I done to deserve this?"

Lisa took my hand and helped me up. "Sleep on it, Kayleigh. You'll feel better in the morning." She said as she led me out the bathroom and back into our room where Angie was lighting some candles. I lay down on my bed and Lisa picked up a magazine which had been left in our room.

"What's my horoscope?" I asked.

Lisa shook her head. "You do know they're a load of rubbish, Kayleigh?" She said as she flicked through. "Taurus, Taurus," She said scanning the page, she then bit her lip and I knew that it wasn't going to be a good one. "Uranus dominates your moon's sign."

I frowned, not exactly understanding what it meant. "Doesn't sound too pretty."

Lisa carried on. "It says, 'The fates will hit you badly this month and you need to be careful where you tread. You could take the straight path to your goals; or you could take the curved path to your goals, but which to take? Think before you do and think before you say as the wheel may never spin back and you may live to regret something."

Angie looked at me. "You'll get there in the end."

"Yeah, but what path do I take?"

"Kayleigh," Angie sighed, putting her hand on my knee. "Unlucky girls don't get the chance to kiss the lead singer from the newest boy band or to perform at their concert in a few weeks time. Unlucky girls sit at home, wishing that they could live their dreams when in reality, they spend their time watching soap operas and spoon feeding themselves nutella."

I sighed and smiled weakly. "Maybe you're right."

"Of course I'm right!" She said nudging me. "Anyway, remember what they always say. When one door closes …"

"Two others open." I said smiling.

Angie smiled and hugged me. "C'mon, let's get some sleep and forget everything that happened this evening."

"What about, the broken mirror and the hairdryer?" I asked.

Angie shrugged. "We'll have to find a way to get round it."


	9. Chapter 8

**Sunday 13th April**

Mr Fredwick came down the corridor at 8 that morning, knocking on everyone's doors to wake us up. After breakfast, we had a meeting with him to talk about what happened the night before. He apologised about it and said that the hotel must have had some sort of technical difficulty, but I owned up and said that it was me. Everyone looked at my direction and Jess laughed.

"Course it would have been you."

Mr Fredwick wasn't impressed with me as I explained what had happened with the hair dryer, but said how only I would do such a silly thing. I said nothing as he gave me my punishment which was to help the housekeepers clean up the mess I made in our room while everyone went out to the beach and the pier in their lunch time break. However, I wasn't too bothered and did as I was told.

We spent the morning in town doing more surveys and measuring rocks and pebbles from the beach. Mr Fredwick left us outside the doors of the hotel at midday, saying that we had an hour and a half for lunch. Lisa and Angie didn't say anything but patted me on the back in sympathy as they left for lunch. I sighed turned round to find the receptionist standing in the doorway with her arms folded tightly across her chest. She gestured me inside and passed me a box full of cleaning bottles and brushes before ushering me into the lift to get on with my punishment. The box was rather heavy and as soon as the lift doors started to close, the handle snapped off the box and the cleaning objects scattered all over the lift floor.

The door to my room was wide open and one of the housekeepers was stood inside it, polishing the shelves and table tops. She looked up as I entered, looking rather infuriated and told me to clean the windows and scrub the bathroom floor. I said nothing as I did as I was told, hoping that something wouldn't trigger my anger. I found myself on my hands and knees, scrubbing the tiled floor. A lot of elbow and grease work. The housekeeper came in and started to give me a lecture on how I had to get right into the cracks. I said nothing and carried on cleaning as she started to tut and shake her head, calling me a silly and clumsy girl and then reminded me that I had seven years bad luck. I sat back on my knees and told her that I had fourteen and I had broken another mirror not so long ago. She frowned before telling me to work harder.

Once the bathroom floor was cleaned, I was ordered to hoover the carpet. By this point, I was tired and wished to go home to bed. I just turned on the hoover and hovered the carpet, humming to myself until when I accidentally bashed the housekeeper's ankle. She yelped and shouted at me. She said that we teenagers never knew the way of life and that we were a complete waste of time. She carried on saying that we think we're all grown up but in fact, we're just children who know nothing. With that, she calmed down and asked me to leave, saying that I was no good and that it'd be better off if she did the cleaning by herself. I sighed and left the room.

I wanted to jump on the train to get home, only remembering Danny and thought that I should make the most of my time away from Eastbourne. I headed towards the beach, wanting to spend the last half hour of lunch with Lisa and Angie but thought better of it and turned to sit on a bench beside the back wall of the hotel. I looked out at the empty garden in front of me as the wind blew. I sighed heavily as I rested my elbow on my knee and put my chin in the palm of my hand. I glanced up at the sky to see that the sun had disappeared behind the thick layer of grey clouds. Before I knew it, my eyes started to sting with tears as I thought about Danny. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be in his arms again and to kiss him, yet I didn't want to put him in danger of getting hurt again. The thought of James hitting Danny at Katy's party upset me. I wondered what Danny thought of me as I left him. I told him that I didn't have the space in my heart for a relationship.

Out of the blue, I screamed loudly as a load of freezing cold water was poured over my head. I froze in the seat, shocked of what had happened. I was soaking wet.

I heard laughter from above. I scrambled to my feet and looked up at the hotel to see Jess leaning out of the window, holding onto a bucket.

"So sorry," she said sarcastically. "Didn't see you down there," She laughed even louder as I frowned and folded my arms. "Do you have permission to go outside after Mr Fredwick ordered you to stay inside and clean up _your_ mess?"

"Oh yeah, it's uhm …" I put my hand in my hoodie pocket as if getting something before taking it out again and giving her the finger. "It's right _here_!" I shook my head and stormed off, feeling my soggy socks squelch in my trainers. Jess slammed the window behind me.

I ran into my room to find that the housekeeper had finished her duty. I slammed the door behind me and wiped my forehead with the sleeve of my hoodie in attempt to make it dryer, only making it wetter. I was soaked and my clothes were stuck to my skin. I kicked off my shoes and socks and slowly walked across the bedroom. I glanced at the broken mirror which was still hung up on the bathroom wall as I passed. I sat on the windowsill and looked out the window. I could feel my hair dripping down my back. I sniffed and wiped my nose with the sleeve of my hoodie before resting my head against the window, looking out at the sea opposite.

What was worse, I thought to myself, getting caught kissing Danny at a party, or having you ex boyfriend fight over you? I thought that meeting McFly was all beginners luck as life started to seem a lot happier after James dumped me, yet after the party, I believed it to be dumb luck … or no luck at all. I wondered if moving to Brighton with dad after my exams and starting a new life would make everything better, yet I couldn't bring myself to forget about the love I had for Danny. Nor could I ever forget the look on his face when I told him that there was no space in my heart for a relationship … which was a lie. I wondered what it would be like if I had a fairy god mother or a guardian angel to look after me. I needed someone to sort out all my problems and stop my parents from arguing, even if it meant that we all move to Brighton together. I didn't want our family to be apart.

I sighed loudly once again as Lisa came into the room in silence. I said nothing as she moved to her bed and took off her coat.

"Kayleigh, for the tenth time you need to make your bed." She said spitefully as if she was somewhat irritated about something. I looked at her and said nothing. "Bloody hell, it's not rocket science." She walked to my bed, picked up the duvet and put it back down neatly. She shot me a glance before moving to her bed and picking up the book that she was reading the night before.

I slid off the windowsill and attempted to tuck the ends bed sheet under the mattress. I heard Lisa groan quietly as she put down her book. She walked up to me and pushed me to the side gently.

"Don't worry, I'll do it." She mumbled. I nodded and sat back onto the windowsill.

"Thanks." I muttered as Lisa finished making my bed.

Lisa looked at me and folded her arms. "You look freezing; you need to put a jumper on."

I shook my head. "I didn't bring one."

Lisa walked over to the wardrobe and took out a brown jumper and threw it in my direction. I caught it and pulled it over my wet clothes.

"I didn't come prepared," I said. "Didn't expect to get _this_ wet."

Lisa who was on her phone, looked up and frowned. "Why are you so wet? It's not like it's raining outside."

I shook my head and didn't want to talk about Jess. "Anything from Sam?" I asked in attempt to change the subject but Lisa ignored me as she too sat on the windowsill. She licked her thumb and gingerly rubbed under my eye, removing the mascara that had been smudged.

"Thanks." I muttered again, smiling weakly as I pulled the sleeves of Lisa's jumper over my hands, feeling rather cold. There was a long pause of silence before Lisa said,

"You let Danny go after you left, didn't you?"

I paused before nodding slowly, not making eye contact.

"Why?"

I shook my head. "I don't want him to get hurt."

"I don't blame you," She said as she put her arm around my shoulders. "What happened at Katy's party was a bit of a shock to all of us and no one hates you for upsetting Danny like that."

"Have you heard from Danny since?"

Lisa looked a little pensive for a while. "Well Harry called Angie and told her everything."

"What exactly did he say?"

"He said that you told Danny that you don't want to start a relationship with him because of everything that's happening," Lisa squeezed my shoulder. "Something tells me that you only hurt him to keep him safe." I nodded and Lisa gave my shoulder another squeeze as a tear rolled down my cheek. "James is a tough boy and I was scared that if you didn't do anything, Danny would have been badly hurt." Lisa got a handkerchief out her jean pocket and handed it to me. I took it and wiped my tears away.

"Why are you being so nice about this?" I asked. "Usually you would just tell me to get over it and say that I brought it all upon myself. You think I'm an idiot …"

"No," Lisa interrupted; sounding neither annoyed or upset but almost as if she agreed with me. "You _behave_ like and idiot. There's a difference," There was another pause. "I know I'm no therapist or agony aunt but I can tell that you are feeling heartbroken and a little bit scared which in my experience doesn't make you a bad person at all. Just about a normal one," She smiled as I tried to suppress a smiled myself. "You probably think I'm a horrible friend for saying that but …"

"Don't worry," I said shaking my head. "We've known each other since the start of primary school; I think we know each other's fault by now." I allowed myself to smile. Lisa looked round the room and then her eyes set on a photo on my bedside table of me, Tracie and mum from when I was a young girl.

"That's a lovely photo," She said picking it up before laughing. "I remember that was at your sixth birthday party. I started running round crying because my brother put the hose down my knickers and turned it on, making me soaked. My parents weren't impressed but Josh found it hilarious," She laughed again. "I remember watching your parents and wanting to be in love as much as they were." Lisa looked at me. "How are you parents? I haven't seen them a while."

I felt a dry lump in my throat. I had not told anyone about my parent's arguments. "They're not exactly friends at the moment." I paused and licked my lips. My voice was a little shaky. "They've been constantly arguing," I paused again. "Dad has been offered a promotion and his new work placement is here in Brighton but … but mum refuses to move."

"Kayleigh," Lisa said softly. "Why didn't you say?"

I shook my head. "I'm scared what these arguments are going to lead to," Tears started to roll down my cheeks. "I just don't want us to be apart." I shut my eyes and cried as Lisa rubbed my back. Nothing was said as I tried to control my tears.

Lisa put the photo back on the bedside table and looked at me. "Listen," She said. "Do you really love Danny as much as I think you do?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Then you need to do something to get your own back on Jess."

I frowned. "How?"

"I don't know how exactly, but you need to show that _you're_ more worthy of Danny's love than she is. She is obsessed about him and would do anything to get it on with him, yet I don't believe that there's any other girl on his mind but you."

"Lisa, I pushed him away, it's highly unlikely he would forgive me."

Lisa passed me her phone. "Read the latest text."

I looked down at the screen and scrolled down her inbox. Her latest text was sent that morning from Tom.

_Lisa, sorry for having to text you this but I believe that Kayleigh's phone has been confiscated because she's grounded, but Danny has been asking after her. I told him what you said and he knows that Kayleigh was only lying to him to stop him from getting into anymore fights. Tom._

I glared at Lisa. "He knows?"

"I couldn't let you drop out like that," Lisa nudged me. "You _knew_ how much I didn't like you being with James because I knew that he wasn't the right guy for you, but I _do_ know how much Danny loves you."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Go back to Danny," Lisa said as she took her phone. "And that we'll find a way to get your own back on Jess, Jenny, Chloe and Katy. I believe that it's about time we should start teaching them a lesson."

I smiled. "Aye, aye Captain"

* * *

We spent the rest of the day in Brighton examining the streets and doing evaluations on tourism. We got back on the coach at about 8 that evening and depending on the traffic, we were expected to be back at school between half eight and nine. Mr Fredwick watched me as I walked on the coach. After the incident the night before, I didn't think that he was ever going to forgive me.

The traffic was quite heavy but we got back to school at 9 that evening. Mr Fredwick had to tick us off the register before allowing us to go home. He wouldn't let us leave until he knew that our parents had come to pick us up as he didn't want us to walk home in the dark on our own. I was the last to leave and neither mum nor dad had arrived.

"Kayleigh," Mr Fredwick said tapping the register with a pencil. "Are you sure your parents know what time to pick you up?"

I shrugged. "I won't be surprised if they don't. My dad will probably be here soon."

"Well they're twenty minutes late and I don't think they'll arrive. I'll drive you home."

"No sir," I said. "I'm sure my parents would arrive anytime soon."

"Well something tells me that they won't." He said bluntly.

"Do you doubt my parents?" I hissed.

"No," Mr Fredwick avoided my eye contact. "It's just that this has happened before," He put the clipboard into his rucksack. "I'll give you a lift home."

I sighed and said nothing as I followed him to his car which was parked in the corner. As he unlocked it, I pulled the car door open and sat in the passenger seat, putting my rucksack down by my feet. Mr Fredwick slipped into the car smoothly and closed the door after him. The engine roared into life as he reversed out the car park and down the road. I had to direct him to my house.

"How's your band getting along Kayleigh?" He asked as he drove carefully along the main road.

"We're good." I replied bluntly.

"Thinking on doing any more concerts?"

"Nope."

There was a pause. I didn't want him to question me about everything.

"Thought so." He muttered after a while.

We eventually turned into my road and Mr Fredwick pulled up into the driveway.

"It would be lovely if I could at least have a decent conversation with you, Kayleigh. You never seem at all that bothered in my lessons which I seem rather rude. I would like to see you taking part a little bit more and you're exams start in less than a month. You're a bright student, you really are."

"Hold on a minute sir." I said undoing the seatbelt.

"I resent being told to hold on to anything, Kayleigh." He said spitefully.

I rolled my eyes. "You being a teacher don't understand everything that happens at home. You think that our lives revolve around school work."

"You think your school life is hard? Try marking forty exam papers in one night. That's hard!"

I sighed and opened the door, said thanks and clambered out the car. I gradually approached the front door of my house whilst Mr Fredwick drove away. Fortunately the house was silent inside and only the sitting room light was on. I was eager to slip into the house and then creep up into my room and sleep for the rest of the evening without any disruptions, but I was entirely wrong. Almost immediately as I opened the front door, I heard the end of their argument. It fell silent as I slammed the front door. I gritted my teeth in anger as I dropped my rucksack on the floor and marched into the kitchen. I pushed open the door to find mum and dad facing each other. Mum quickly looked and me.

"Kayleigh, get out!" She ordered.

I looked at Dakota who was stood by the conservatory door, howling. "What's been going on?" I asked.

"Kayleigh, just please leave us alone, your mother is being silly." Dad said calmly.

"Because of your promotion." I finished off his sentence. I looked at mum. "You're being so selfish, mum!"

"And it isn't your role to have your word in this so would you please just _leave _us." Dad hissed. I felt disappointed in dad as we paused, looking at each other. After feeling close to my father, his anger took that away from us.

"I'm sick of it," Mum said. "The both of you. David I'm sick of the way you have nothing to care about but your bloody work and as for you, Kayleigh …"

"Don't bring this on her, Zoe."

"I will, David, because look at her!" Mum narrowed her eyes. "I know that she changed her ways when she was ten years old, but her temper! I mean first she's always in detention, then she starts a fight on her first day at Burger King, then she starts a fight in her history class and then she disobeys us. What have we done to make her become like this?"

"Well I'm sorry for disappointing and not being the perfect daughter you asked for." I hissed, fighting back the tears.

"Kayleigh, I really think that you should leave now, Kayleigh." Dad started.

"I will not!" I snapped. "This is sick. This is totally sick. The both of you are as bad as one another. You put this all on me for disobeying you but you're the one I got my bad temper from, dad, and mum, you never seem to be thankful for anything I've done. No one is perfect, so shouldn't you be thankful that you _have_ a daughter?"

Mum watched dad. "Get out." She hissed.

Somewhat confused, I stopped talking, only to find that neither of them was listening to anything that I had said to them.

"I have the rights to this house as much as you do, Zoe." Dad hollered.

Mum stood face to face to dad. "I don't _fucking_ care. I want you out of this house!"

Dad swore at mum and pushed her to the wall, knocking over a vase of flowers. Water spilled over the tiled floor, china scattered everywhere.

I couldn't bare it anymore.

I turned and ran into the sitting room, slamming the door behind me, while mum and dad started to shout at one another. When I got into the sitting room, I saw Tracie and my three brothers huddled on the carpet floor in the middle of the room. They were all crying quietly with their arms round each other. They looked up at me and Tracie gestured me to join her. I burst into tears and I buried my face in her shoulder. My family was crumbling apart. I felt a part of me dying as I thought about mum kicking dad out the house. There was a loud smash and silence followed.

There was a long pause.

The front door slammed.

Dad had gone.

I couldn't believe it.

The man I looked up to had left the house for good. I needed him. I thought of another father who would never, never leave me alone to pick up the pieces. A daddy to hold me as that was what I needed. I felt disowned as I no longer knew who my parents were, as much as I wanted to.

I just know that those were confessions of a broken heart.


	10. Chapter 9

**Tuesday 15th April**

Monday at school was terrible. I couldn't concentrate in class as I had the sound of mum and dad echoing in my ears. As I walked through the school grounds, I had people turning to look at me and pointing at me. Everyone knew that I had kissed Danny. Everyone knew about the fight.

I was invisible.

Sam, Angie and I sat in the canteen at lunchtime, waiting for Lisa who wanted a band meeting. Angie was nibbling at her mashed potato with cheese and I drank a can of coke through a red bendy straw. Sam had grabbed a fork and helped himself to Angie's lunch as she said that she wasn't hungry. After a few minutes of nothing but the sound of me slurping on the coke and people talking in the canteen, Lisa eventually came running up to us.

"Here we go." Angie said as soon as Lisa had reached us, puffing.

"You wouldn't believe it." Lisa eventually said as she caught her breath back.

Sam, Angie and I exchanged glances, clueless.

"McFly said that they are willing to help prepare for our gig on Thursday!" Lisa jumped up and down on the balls of her feet with eagerness, watching me. I said nothing and drank more coke.

The plan was that McFly would sneak into school where we'll start practising our songs. Lisa said that we had to be subtle about McFly because the teachers wouldn't allow us and the girls would go crazy. I was surprised as it was very unlike Lisa to break any school rules.

During tutor time, I was told that my pen pal, Panya, had decided to send me emails instead of letters because she didn't like the long process that letters took.

I checked my school account and found a long email from Panya. She explained how she didn't enjoy school at all and that she was desperate to leave and get on with her future, however, she knew that she couldn't get anywhere in life without decent grades. She asked how my hockey match went and mentioned how she liked that my dad worked in a hospital. However, towards the end of the email, she explained how her parents were divorced and that she alters between living with her mother and her father. She said how her mother had a new boyfriend which she disliked. She reminded me of Lisa. But then her last sentence ended with a question: "Have you ever been in love?"

In my email, I explained about my hockey match. I said how we were doing very well until one of my team mates pushed me over and that I had to sit out of the match because I had twisted my ankle. I then started to explain about Jess and her appalling personality. I then found myself babbling on about my parents and how they were constantly arguing and that dad left the house and stayed in a hotel in the town centre. I then compared her to Lisa with the fact that she disliked her mother's new boyfriend and that Lisa was in the exact same position.

It took me a while before I had the courage to answer her final question. Had I ever been in love? Yes, I admitted, yet it wasn't as good as everyone made it out to be. I explained about my break up with James and how I met Danny, but I let Danny go because I didn't want to see him get hurt.

I ended the email asking why she asked me about love. Then after having a read through, I pressed send.

I was sat in my double science lesson, watching the clock ticking away. Ms Meyers was sat reading a copy of _heat_ magazine. I counted down the seconds, waiting for the final bell to ring. When it did, I quickly scooted up my science books and my bag and then rushed out the lab before Ms Meyers could even say "Okay" like she did at the end of each lesson.

Lisa nor Angie weren't at the school gates waiting for me so I left on my own. I took the long walk home, along the promenade and the beach. I tried to dodge out the way of the elderly couple who was sitting on the benches watching my every move.

"Here she is again," I heard a voice. "That's girl who ripped that poster off the lamppost not so long ago."

I looked to see the elderly couple whom I saw before sat on the same bench. I said nothing and walked on, wanting to get away from them. But as I got closer to the pier, someone grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me round to face them. It was Harry. I glanced down at my wrist and he let go of his grip.

"Hello?" I said, looking up at him.

Harry smiled a little, but looked somewhat annoyed. I sighed.

"Have you come to tell me off for leaving Danny?" I asked sullenly. Harry looked back at me, frowning a little. I rolled my eyes and turned round to walk off.

"Hey." Harry called and ran after me. I tried to ignore him as tears started to slide down my cheek. "Hey Kayleigh wait up!" He got hold of my wrist and spun me round, seeing my tears as I quickly wiped them away. "Kayleigh, why are you getting all hysterical about this? I'm not gonna tell you off." I looked down to the ground and shut my eyes tightly. Harry sighed and put his arm around my shoulder and led me to a bench. We sat down and Harry got me to explain everything that happened after Danny and I left the party. He nodded and said that they had all guessed it when I told him that I wanted to pull away from Danny because I was scared that he would get hurt again, however, he raised his eyebrows when I told him how much I cared for Danny.

Nothing more was said on that subject. Harry said that McFly would be coming into school to help us prepare for our gig Thursday evening. It wasn't long till Harry stood up and raced me to the end of the promenade. We talked for ages as he walked me home and I asked how he was getting on with Angie. They truly were in love.

Mum was in the kitchen, cooking dinner when I entered the house. I frowned as I put my school bag on the floor by the pool table.

"Mum." I started. She looked up at me. Her eyes were red and puffy looking, but she forced a smile.

"How was school?" She asked flatly.

"The usual," I replied bluntly. "Where's dad?"

Mum's smile turned into a frown as she dropped a wooded spoon in the sink. "He's living in a hotel in the middle of the town. Why?"

"It's just that ..." I paused. I couldn't tell mum about my band. "By the way," I said changing the subject. "There's a geography revision session Thursday evening."

Mum sighed. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Go if you need to."

I smiled broadly and ran up the stairs. I never liked lying to mum but I had to for that. Mum couldn't know anything about my band.

Angie told me that she started to get into the habit of meditating once a week to relieve stress and worries about our upcoming exams. Knowing that I've never meditated before in my life, and wasn't exactly sure how to, I gave it a try. I sat cross legged on my bed and closed my eyes. I breathed in and out deeply, trying to clear my mind of everything that had happened the past four weeks.

The bedroom door opened which distracted me as I lost count of my breaths. I tried to ignore it and started counting again. The person who had walked in the room had seemed to move to their bed and sat on it.

"Kayleigh, what are you doing?" It was Headband Dan. I could hear myself saying "I'm meditating" in my head but the words didn't seem to want to come out of my mouth clearly. I closed my eyes tighter to drown out any thoughts but Dan asked the same question.

"Meditating." I mumbled again so quietly that you only could hear a muffle sound coming out of my lips.

"You're what?" I heard Dan's voice in my ear.

"I'm meditating you moron!" I snapped. Dan slightly moved away from me, his eyebrows raised. "Sorry," I said softly, rubbing my forehead. "I'm just a bit tense at the moment."

Dan nodded. "I noticed." He sat on his bed and started to undo his shoelaces.

I watched him. He was wearing his favourite blue sweatband on his head and he had one of each wrist; one red and the other white.

"Dan," I started. "What do you think of mum and dad?"

Dan looked up at me and shrugged. "I dunno. I try not to think about it." He said as he took off his shoes and placed them on the floor by the bedside table.

"Do you think dad would ever move in again?"

Dan shrugged again. "I have no idea, Kayleigh. They proper hate each other." He lied down on his bed. I nodded and did the same, looking up at the ceiling.

"Kayleigh." Dan said softly after a moment's silence.

"Yeah."

"Have you heard from Danny since the party?"

I frowned and swallowed. "No."

"I thought he was your boyfriend or something."

I laughed.

I laughed a lot.

I laughed more than I should have.

"You're such a loser."

"Thanks." I muttered. That was it. That would probably be the last decent conversation I'd have with Dan for a few days, or even a few weeks. Maybe months.

"What are you two doing?" Someone's voice was suddenly heard from our bedroom door. Dan and I quickly sat straight up to see Screaming Lord Thomas standing in the doorway. I ignored him and lied back down.

"I'm knackered." Dan replied, picking up his phone and looking at it.

"Well you'd better wake up 'cause Liam and I are planning on playing a game of footie in the …" Before I knew it, Lovely Little Liam had jumped up onto Thomas' back making him scream like a girl. I found myself giggling.

Dan nodded and replaced his blue headband with a white one around his forehead.

"Do you wanna play footie with us, Kay?" Dan asked.

"What? You're asking Kayleigh to play _football_?" We all turned to look at the door where Tracie came in laughing. Thomas rolled his eyes.

"What's wrong with that?" Liam asked.

Tracie laughed as she sat on her bed.

"What's wrong with it?" She said mimicking Liam in a childish voice. "Have you seen Kayleigh _play_ football?" She took off her shoes. My three brothers exchanged glances while I looked at my duvet.

"Anyway, I was just _about_ to say no before you stuck your beak into it." I said after a while.

"What's that you say?" She asked rudely but I said nothing in return.

"Anyway Tracie," Thomas said. "I'd like to see _you_ play football."

Tracie smirked and took her phone out of her jean pocket. I looked at Liam and Thomas who seemed to be waiting for Dan who was putting his shoes back on. Liam got out two Wagon Wheels from his pocket and threw one in my direction. I smiled as I caught it. There was another long pause of silence as I started to eat.

"What on earth is that?" Trace snapped.

I rolled my eyes. "Why do you insist on questioning everything I do?"

"Haven't you ever tried a Wagon Wheel?" Liam asked sounding rather surprised but Tracie just shook her head in response. Liam ran up to her. "You have not _lived_!" He gave it to her. She snatched it out of his hands and looked at the back of the packet where it showed all of the ingredients.

"Ew, its full or calories and sugars. I'd never eat that." She hissed. Liam rolled his eyes and took the Wagon Wheel out of her hand.

"Oh, what a revolution." He mumbled, turning on his heels and walking back to where he was stood before. I was still sat on my bed, happily eating my Wagon Wheel enjoying the conversations between my siblings. I knew that Dan and Thomas didn't like Tracie that much and always teased her. Even though I knew that Dan and Thomas weren't too keen on me either, they both preferred me to Tracie as they picked on her more often.

"So Tracie, how's your relationship going with Paul these days?" Dan asked, sniggering with Thomas.

Tracie slammed her phone down onto her bed and shouted, "What is your problem?"

Thomas, Liam and Dan suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.

"It's not funny!" She snapped. "You're so immature. Just grow up!"

"Jesus Christ, Tracie, we're only thirteen," Thomas said. "Anyway, we'd probably get on well with you more if you weren't such a slut and maybe we'd like Kayleigh more if she wouldn't be so down about her life all the time."

I felt a small smile creep up from the corner of my mouth but I tried to hide it by taking another bite out of my Wagon Wheel.

"I don't even know why I bother anymore." Tracie mumbled.

"Actually," I said loudly which turned everyone's attention to me. "I'll play football with you. Something for me to do to get away for her." I looked at Tracie and smiled. Thomas screamed with joy and my three brothers ran down the stairs, Thomas still screaming.

Tracie was stood next to me with her arms folded. "So bloody immature."

"It's not like you're any better." I mumbled chucking the Wagon Wheel rapper into the bin.

She scowled. "Really, Kayleigh. You'll regret the day you kissed Danny."

I raised my eyebrows. "I think I've already regretted it." I turned on my heel and headed out to the hall but as soon as I got to the top of the stairs, Tracie said,

"You do know that Danny asked Jess out after school today?"

I froze on the spot. My heart skipped a beat when I heard Tracie's cruel voice. I didn't move but I very slowly swallowed a lump which was stuck in my throat. Tracie giggled.

"There you have it, Kayleigh. That's the second time this has happened to you. You've let another boy slip right through your fingers and into another girl's heart."

"I did _not_ let James go." I croaked.

"Don't lie, Kayleigh. You're a terrible liar and I can see it right through your eyes," Tracie giggled again. "But if you don't believe me, then listen to the town of Eastbourne. Practically _everyone_ is talking about Jess and Danny's relationship. Even some of the elderly people who spend their time sat on the benches watching the sea are talking about it! I heard a couple say that they are happy about Jess going out with Danny as he disserves someone like her unlike that 'moody ginger girl who ripped of a McFly poster off a lamppost'" Tracie leant against the doorframe. "You do realise that half the town hates you apart from yourself and your silly band."

I felt tears sting my eyes but I quickly blinked them away before storming up to Tracie, not wanting to believe her.

"How would you know about Danny and Jess going out? You haven't even _heard_ what he said about her …"

Before I could finish off speaking, Tracie held a _Smash Hits_ magazine with the McFly interview in front of my face.

"Don't worry, Kayleigh," She said calmly. "We know _everything_ that has been said." She then tore the magazine in half, right through Dougie's left shoulder and through Tom's body.

"Kayleigh, are you gonna come out or what?" Dan's voice came from the bottom of the stairs. I glared into Tracie's bitter eyes.

"I'll be out in a minute." I croaked once more.

"When you get rid of someone, Kayleigh, you don't realise how much you need them till they're gone and when somebody else has them," Tracie then slid her eyes to the ripped magazine and then back to my eyes. "_Never_ give up on someone you can't go a day without thinking about, Kayleigh, it really isn't worth it at all."

I turned round and ran down the stairs, not saying a word and not letting any tears leak out. I walked out into the back garden. Dan was already bouncing the ball on his knee, while Thomas was shouting and a screaming-type-of-way to Dan,

"Don't be fooled by this pretty face 'cause you'll be goin' _down_!"

Dan looked unimpressed. Being the sportiest brother out of the three, Dan started to show off by doing a load of tricks with the ball. On the other hand, Liam was stood in the goal dancing around singing "I've got the funk". I couldn't help but laugh knowing that he _thinks_ he could dance when clearly, he couldn't.

Eventually the three of them started to play the game. Dan was kind and allowed Thomas to start the game with a kick-off. Thomas was sighting himself with the ball, shouting at himself. He eventually ran forward and kicked the ball towards Dan. I didn't really play football with them; I sat on the bench and watched them. It made me laugh whenever Thomas screamed and shouted at himself with the ball and Liam was constantly singing "I've got the funk" to himself and trying to dance whenever he could. Dakota came out of the house and started to chase the ball around with the boys. It was starting to get dark and I looked at my watch. It was nearly nine in the evening and I was expecting mum to come out to tell us to come back in but instead she turned on the back light for us to see what we were doing. Until when it started to rain heavily, our next door neighbour peeped her head over the wall and started to tell us off.

"Shut your faces down there! How's a woman supposed to get her proper rest? All that shoutin' and commotion goin' on, it's not right!" She shouted. I rolled my eyes as I knew how much she hated children.

"Sorry miss," Liam said picking up the ball. "We're just about to go back inside anyway."

"Well shut up, for once and for all shut up!" She snapped. "One more sound out of this family, so 'elp me, and I'll call the police. This is not the first time I've been woken up by you and had to complain. I was fed up with yer parents yellin' at each other and now I've got you lot and I've had enough of it!"

"We're sorry miss." Liam repeated. Then without a word she vanished. It started to rain a lot harder and there was a rumble of thunder. My three brothers walked into the house and I followed them a few minutes afterwards. The house was pretty quiet, apart from the sound of the telly in the lounge. I opened the lounge door and called mum softly but she was on the sofa, asleep and Tracie was on the floor, painting her nails and talking on the phone. I closed the lounge door and went upstairs to my room and slipped into my bed.


	11. Chapter 10

**Wednesday 16th April**

I woke up later than usual that morning. As I sprinted down the stairs, I found that all my siblings had already left to go to school, leaving me behind.

It was pouring with rain outside and I had to speed walk along the pathway towards school, gripping onto my umbrella, hoping that it wouldn't blow inside out. The ground was slippery and I found it difficult not to slip over. I guessed that the rain from the night before hadn't passed over. There was a thunder cloud hovering above me and I could hear small rumbles of thunder every few minutes.

I broke out in a run, not wanting to stay out in the rain for much longer. However, I slipped over on the pavement. All my books fell out of my bag and into the mud and my guitar case popped open. I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could. I screamed with anger but I managed to control myself as I shut my guitar case, not wanting the rain to spoil it. I sat back on my heels. My school skirt was absolutely covered in mud and I didn't have enough time to run back home to grab the spare uniform. I looked up at the dark clouds above me, letting the rain fall on my face.

"Is this what I get for accidentally breaking two mirrors in the space of three weeks?" I shouted up at the sky as if there was something above me, giving me dumb luck. I looked down at my wristwatch. It was nine that morning. I had already missed tutor and my band mates are probably wondering where I had got to. I didn't understand why someone didn't wake me up that morning. Nor did I understand why I woke up so late. I didn't think I was sleeping properly.

As I started to shove my muddy books back into my bag, I heard a car pull up behind me. Someone got out the car.

"You need a hand?" It was Danny. I recognised the northern accent straight away. I sighed and stared into the wet mud which I was kneeling in. However, I said nothing. Danny was by my side, helping me put my school books neatly into my bag. There was silence between us. Nothing was said.

Danny gave me a hand and helped me up off the mud.

"We were worrying about you." Danny said as he directed me to his car.

I said nothing.

As I was up on two feet, I looked down at my school uniform. I was covered in mud and everything was stuck to my skin, due to the rain.

"Look," I started. "I'm not really ready to go to school looking like this. I don't think I'm ready for our band practise today … I don't think."

"Why don't you ask your dad?" Danny suggested as he opened the car door.

I frowned. "Why are you bringing my dad into this?" I snapped.

Danny froze but didn't answer. Instead, he got into the car. I did the same, sitting in the passenger seat, wanting to avoid eye contact with Danny after what Tracie told me the night before. Surely Danny wasn't going out with Jess? He didn't like her. Was he lying to me?

I looked down at the radio and reached it to turn it on but Danny did the same and our hands brushed against each other. I quickly drew my hand away and looked out the window. Danny didn't seem to say anything as he turned on the radio.

We spent the rest of the car journey in silence.

Danny had to park outside the back entrance of the school and we had to be as subtle as we could when walking into the hall. If McFly were caught helping us out, our gig would be cancelled.

Lisa wasn't at all impressed that I was late but Angie pushed passed her to tell me that Mr Smallcombe had permission to allow us to have the lessons off for the next two days. Yet he advised us to go to as many lunch and after school revision sessions as we could as we broke up for study leave the week after.

Minutes went by and those minutes turned into an hour. We were all sat in a circle in the middle of the main hall discussing about what song we were going to perform and whether we would do a cover or write a new song. However, I wasn't I the right frame of mind to write a song.

Sam suggested that we sang a song that was something a bit different to the other three we had. Angie mentioned that I should go and talk to my dad as he and my Uncle Robbie knew a lot about music and could help us out. I glanced at Danny. He was looking at me. I looked down at my hands. Dad didn't know that I was in a band. No one in my family knew but my siblings who saw me at the school's music concert. My parents knew that I wanted to be in a band but I never told them that I was going to carry on being in a band after the music concert. Dougie suggested that we should do a cover for _5 Colours in Her Hair_ but no one seemed to get the joke. Dougie was laughing on his own but quickly stopped when he realised that no one was laughing with him. That was followed by a long silence as everyone thought as to what to do.

It was around lunch time and I found myself walking through the streets of Eastbourne towards dad's hotel with Dougie by my side. The rain had stopped and the sun made a good attempt to come out. We spent the whole morning debating on what song to sing, so I insisted that I would go to visit my dad and get his opinion.

"How come we're here?" Dougie asked as we reached the hotel. I hesitated for a moment.

"Just give me a couple of minutes and I'll be back with you." I eventually said and ran up the stairs to the front door. I looked at the panel on the wall beside the door. I pressed in dad's room number on the sticky buttons and then pressed the call button before wiping my thumb on my dirty school shirt. Dad picked up the call on the fourth ring with a cheerful hello. I was surprised. With everything that happened at home, dad made an effort to sound happy.

"Dad, it's me." I said. My voice was quiet.

"Kayleigh, what are you doing here? Why aren't you in school?"

I glanced at Dougie who was writing his autograph for a young girl. I smiled and turned back to the speaker. "There's something I need to tell you and I may need your help because you know more about music than I do."

"In what way?" Dad asked. "You're the one studying music at school."

"It'll be better if you let me in, dad, so I can explain."

There was a pause. Then the door buzzed. I looked at it for a while before opening it and walking inside. The hall of the flat was quite run down. There were crayon drawings on the walls and old cigarette butts were stuck in the carpet. The stench of the hallway made me feel a little sick so I held my breath and hurried towards dad's hotel room which was on the far end of the corridor. I knocked on the door, covering my nose with my thumb and forefinger. Dad opened the door with a smile on his face. Eventually, his smile turned into a frown as he saw the state of my school uniform.

"What on earth have you been doing?" Dad asked, not sounding too impressed.

"I fell over in the rain on the way to school this morning." I said as I pushed past him to get inside his room which smelt like cooked bacon. There was a very small, cramped corridor which took about seven steps to get to the other end. At the end of the hallway was a door which was wide open leading into what was his temporary bedroom. There were three other doors. Beside the first door, there were eight small, coloured, square shaped patterned windows.

"How long are you meant to be here?" Dad asked opening the first door and walking into the room. I followed him which led us into a small kitchen.

"It doesn't really matter."

Dad nodded and picked up his mug of coffee off the counter. "So you're here because?"

I hesitated for a moment as I played with the sleeve of my blazer. "You know I told you about Lisa, Angie and I starting a band three weeks ago?" I swallowed. "Well ignoring the fact that you told me not to, we still made a band together. Sam has joined us to," I paused for a moment, expecting dad to say something but he didn't, so I carried on. "When you went to Brighton for a weekend, we did a gig at _The Dolphin_ and we performed at the school's music concert. Mum knew about that but she thinks that that's the end of the band idea. We have a gig tomorrow night."

Dad put his coffee mug on the table and looked at me. "You have my ambition, Kayleigh," He said. "You're told not to do something yet you still do it," I wasn't too sure whether or not dad was annoyed with what I told him. "Do you need help for tomorrow?"

"I just wanted to ask if you had any good songs that we could cover. We already have three songs which we wrote ourselves."

Dad left the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a few pieces of paper stapled together.

I sat down at the table and started to read it through. It was a song called _Everything I Own_ sang by a band called Bread during the seventies. As I read the chorus, I remembered singing along to it when I was a little girl. Whenever we had Uncle Robbie over, they would play their favourite tunes and that was the song I always used to sing to.

"Dad, this is brilliant." I said, smiling to myself.

"You know, your uncle and I always used to say that we could imagine you singing this up on stage."

I looked up at my dad. "Aren't you angry that I disobeyed you _again_?" I asked. "You told me not to be in a band and I still did."

Dad laughed and sat down next to me. "With an ambition like mine, I'll never get angry with you for that. If you want to be in a band and sing your songs to the world and become successful … then _try_ anything. All I want is for you to be happy, Kayleigh, and if this makes you happy, then I'm more than happy to help you out," Dad then paused. "How did you manage to get out of school during the day?"

"Mr Smallcombe gave us permission to not go to lessons today and tomorrow so we can practice for the gig."

Dad sighed. "Well as long as it isn't getting in the way of your revision."

I shook my head. "It won't, I promise." There was a moments silence as dad and I looked at each other. Before I knew it, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. I didn't want to loose my dad. As I did so, the front door opened and someone walked into the apartment.

"David, are you there?" A woman's voice called. I pulled away from dad who was looking over my shoulder. I turned round to find a woman standing in the doorway with a pleased smile on her face. She had long wavy, sleek black hair and a long, thin face. She was quite curvy and was wearing a tank top and purple tracksuit bottoms.

"Oh, Courtney, you're a bit early," Dad said looking down at his watch. "Our shift doesn't start for another couple of hours."

"Well I was just on my lunchtime jog and I just wanted to pop by. We've got a lot to do today." She said as she placed her handbag onto the table.

"Who's this?" I asked narrowing my eyes as Courtney placed her hand on dad's shoulder.

Dad cleared his throat. "Courtney is my colleague. She got promoted to work in Brighton too. We work together a lot."

"And how often does she come round here?" I hissed through gritted teeth. Courtney was walking around the hotel room as if she was at home. I didn't want to think that dad was having an affair. I didn't want to see dad with any other woman but my mother. As I stood up, Courtney took hold of my hand and shook it vigorously.

"Hello, Kayleigh. I've heard a _great_ deal about you." She said, squeezing my hand.

"Yes," I spoke. "And it would be nice to be able to go back to school without you breaking my hand."

She stopped shaking my hand and quickly let go. I looked at dad.

"Please don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing."

"I surely hope you're not thinking that …" Dad started.

"What _is_ going on?" I then lowered my voice. "She looks like a slag."

"Excuse me?" Courtney thundered.

"I said I liked your bag." I shouted.

Dad sighed and put his hand on his forehead. "Just go back to school, Kayleigh. Go back and rehearse for tomorrow night."

"Why aren't you at school?" Courtney asked.

I said nothing as I snatched up the song lyrics to _Everything I Own_ which was under Courtney's bag. I stormed out of the apartment and slammed the door shut behind me. I held my breath as I ran through the corridor, desperate to get out.

I was being silly. I knew I was. Of course dad wouldn't have an affair after everything that was going on. I was making a big fuss over nothing. I was jumping to too many conclusions. I couldn't help myself. I was scared I was losing my father.

I got outside the hotel and it had started to rain again. Dougie was standing by the door, holding onto an umbrella. I stood under the umbrella and buried my face into his shoulder.

"Please make me invisible." I begged.

Dougie laughed. "Kayleigh, what's going on?"

I hesitated for a moment as I pulled away from him. "Let me tell you something, Dougie," I said. "My dad said that he loved me and that he loved my mother but he's left us to live in Brighten. I was close to telling Danny that I loved him but I let him go because I can't stand the thought of him getting into trouble and getting hurt because of me," I shrugged. "Is that the way love goes? Are we all supposed to end up being hurt? I learnt last night that you don't realise how much you need someone until you _lose_ them." Dougie pursed his lips. "I don't know about love as much as I say I do but," I paused. "All I know is that it keeps us sane. People tend to go crazy without it. People get lonely."

"Where has this all come from, Kayleigh?" Dougie asked. "What's going on? There's something you're not telling us."

I said nothing.

Once Dougie and I went back to school, I explained about the song my dad chose and after a couple of attempts of performing the song, Tom suggested that we should have some more instruments from the brass family to be played in the background. Mr Smallcombe agreed and found half a dozen people who would happily play that one song with us at the gig Thursday night. It sounded brilliant. Harry recorded it on camera and we watched it back. Mr Smallcombe pointed out some flaws that needed work on, but other than that, he was impressed.

However, as the day went on, I started to think about moving to Brighton with dad. I then started to think about quitting the band.

It was the end of the day and I went down to the other end of the school where the infants were taught. I offered to help the teachers clean up the mess because I didn't want to go home. The teacher, Mrs Avcoat, was pleased that I offered to help her. She was my teacher when I was little. We started to clean the red and green paint off the small table in the middle of the classroom. We had to kneel down because the table was so small and we were too big for the plastic chairs.

"It never really occurred to me how messy children can be." I muttered to myself. Mrs Avcoat laughed.

"I still remember when you were only five years old, Kayleigh," Mrs Avcoat said as a smile broke out on her face. "You and Jessica Wells always used to fight over who had what seat and what pencil and which toy. It was always her in tears."

I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and sat back on my heels. "Yeah, well we haven't changed much." I muttered as I started to scrub off some paint which seemed to refuse to come off. I found myself frowning.

"You've really matured into a young woman, Kayleigh, you really have," I looked up at her. "I do miss having you in the class. You were such sweet little girl back then," I glanced down at the table. "But look at you now," I looked up again. "You're in a band and you're performing tomorrow evening. Isn't that fantastic?"

I said nothing as I ran my tongue along the inside of my cheek. The rain was patting against the window again roughly. I started to remember all my days at infant school with Mrs Avcoat.

"I used to want to be a teacher like you." I managed to say after a while.

Mrs Avcoat smiled and nodded. "I remember you telling me. At break and lunch, you used to sit in the classroom and draw pictures for me. And then Lisa would always be standing by your side saying that she wouldn't be your friend if you didn't go outside," Mrs Avcoat did an impression of Lisa in a childish tone which made me laugh. "How is Lisa these days?"

"She's fine," I said. "She's grown up a lot since then."

"Hasn't she just. I walk past her in the morning and think, is that really her?" Mrs Avcoat smiled and after a few seconds of silence she shifted on her knees. "I'm sorry about what happened at the hockey match last week."

I shook my head and said nothing.

There was another pause of silence.

"Well, I think that's all we can do for the day." Mrs Avcoat eventually said, pushing herself up off the carpet.

"What about the toys on the floor?" I asked.

"Oh, don't worry about those. The caretakers will pick them up."

And then with that, Mrs Avcoat was out the door. I sighed and decided to pick up all the toys off the floor and put them in the box which was under the teacher's chair. I wanted to take my time before going home.

There was a toy on the floor which reminded me of Tracie. I could remember that Tracie would always be the one to play with her and no one dared to take it away from her. I smiled and put the doll in the box.

As I walked around the classroom, I saw someone standing next to me in the corner of my eye. I looked up and it was Tom. I paused for a moment as I tucked my hair behind my ear again.

"Is anything wrong?" Tom asked.

I nodded. "Yeah," I said, my voice was a whisper. "My dad has left us." I turned my back on him and walked to the other side of the room to put the box of toys away in the big cupboard but Tom followed me, calling my name. All I wanted was to be left alone. A rush of anger flew through me as I dropped the box of toys and spun round to face him. "What do you want, Tom?"

Tom took a step back and hesitated for a second, slightly taken aback from my sudden burst of anger. "What do I want?" He said, his voice shaking a little in confusion. "I was only asking if you were okay."

"Anything else?" I snapped, folding my arms.

"Look, if this whole gig thing is stressing you out then I don't blame you. I hear that your exams start in a couple of weeks."

I sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry, Tom. There are a lot of things going on at home right now and all I want is to be invisible and to be left alone."

Tom nodded. "I understand."

"And about the whole band thing …"

Tom put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't even worry about the band, Kayleigh. If you're not happy we could …" I frowned slightly as Tom hesitated. "We can find another song if you like."

"Yeah whatever, knock yourselves out." I croaked as I backed away before turning to the box of toys. I knelt down beside it and started to put the toys back into the box.

Tom took a step forward. "I mean, it's a great song, Kayleigh. You guys sound amazing and with the orchestra, I'm sure your dad …"

I stood up. "Stop, Tom, please would you just _stop_!" I bellowed. "I'm not going to be in the band anymore!"

"What?" Tom muttered. I said nothing. "Don't be so silly, Kayleigh. You can't quit the band because of a song."

"It's nothing to do with the song, I just can't handle it!"

"Then tell me why."

"I don't do _why_!" I shrieked. I turned my back on him and put my head in my hands, trying to stop myself from crying.

"Well you're going to have to, Kayleigh. YOU JUST HAVE TO!" Tom demanded.

There was a horrible long pause of silence and stillness. I sniffed as I wiped my tears away before turning to face Tom who looked confused, disappointed and angry.

"Do you really wanna know why I'm like this, Tom? Do you really want to know why I can be such a bitch and why I'm so superstitious and why I don't like to explain about my past? Why I don't do _why_?" I murmured. I looked into Tom's eyes, wondering what he was thinking but I had to tell him everything. The type of person I used to be. I took in a deep breath. "When I was ten years old, dad used to _hate_ the way I was. He used to hate my attitude and more or less every single thing I did. I was horrible to people. The things I used to believe in and say were cruel. That was all down to people from school. I was so sick of being judged and people picking on me because I wasn't like them. So instead, I turned bitter towards people and got my revenge on those who hurt me. However dad didn't like it. I never used to be like that until that moment. He told me that revenge is never the best solution. You may feel better about yourself afterwards but the consequences afterwards are tough. And I've learnt my lesson from that. I lost someone who used to be my best friend; my twin sister. Because of that, she became friends with Jess' group and turned into some sort of slut. After realising what I did, I promised God, the universe and my father, that I'd change. I wanted to change my attitude to please my dad. I couldn't stand the thought of disappointing him. I've learnt how to accept life from how it is. I've learnt to _love_ my friends, my family; but I've never learnt how to stand up for myself, or volunteer into anything big. Yeah, I've been told before that I'm the type of person who can show off who I am without a care in the world, but really, I don't think I am like that at all. My mum prefers me to be the quiet Kayleigh Slovenia who backs out on opportunities. That's why I thought being in a band was a good idea. It was something to help me find out who I really am. Until recently, my father got a promotion and is being transported to work in Brighton. Mum doesn't want to move and they've been arguing constantly. Dad is now living in a hotel on his own and will be moving out to Brighton shortly."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't know what's worse, Tom. Losing a father, you love so much you've changed your whole life for," I then swallowed. "Or losing someone like Danny who you felt like yourself when you're with them." I shut my eyes tightly as Tom put his cold hands onto my arms.

"Kayleigh," He said softly. "Why are you letting life bring you down? Life is hard. It's not supposed to be easy. There are probably a _lot_ of girls from the lower years in your school wanting to be like you because you are so wonderfully talented. And you're not unlucky, Kayleigh. James is nothing to worry about and you've still got Danny by your side, no matter what. He _cares_ for you. Most girls would probably do anything to get with him but you just went in there without a care in the world," He then tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "You even got in a fight on your first day at your job in Burger King, and I heard that you had a custard pie fight in history just to win your friends back. Kayleigh, you're the type of person who'd do _anything_ to get what you want. And even though you are grounded, you're still going to perform with us on our last concert before we go back to London in two weeks time," Tom sighed. "Some girls would love to be someone like you. Just _please _don't give up on the band and make everything worse. You've got a day left to practice and people from your school want to see _you_ perform live, because they love your band."

I smiled weakly and looked up at him.

"That's so sweet." I croaked.

Tom smiled at me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Promise you won't quite the band?"

"I promise." I said, my voice was slightly muffled but I meant it.

Tom and I took a walk around Eastbourne together. It wasn't until we got to the middle of the town that he decided to sit on the pavement with his back up against a wooden fence to eat his corn dog which we had bought earlier at the pier. I sat with him and ate my 99.

"You do know that the whole story about Danny asking out Jess is a load of bullshit." I looked at Tom and Tom looked at me. "You didn't believe that, did you?"

"No," I said quickly, turning to look down at my 99. "Just thought it was a bit of dumb luck, that's all."

After a moments silence, I glanced up to see a blonde girl walking over in our direction with a smile on her face. She was looking directly at us. Tom turned to look at her and gestured her to join us. The girl started to run towards us, her long blonde curly hair blowing in the wind. As soon as she reached us, I recognised her instantly. She sat down on her knees looking at us. I seemed to remember her from when I was eight years old.

"Hiya, you're Kayleigh from the _Broken Wings_, aren't you?" She said with a broad smile on her face. I defiantly remembered who she was as she spoke in an American accent. I nodded and said nothing as she reached out her hand for me to shake.

"I'm Charlotte," She said. "Nice to meet you."

"I've known you since I was eight years old," I said bluntly, frowning a little. "You used to babysit me every Saturday when my parents were out."

Charlotte looked rather surprised as she moved her hand away. "Oh," She then frowned before looking surprised again. "No way! Kayleigh Slovenia? The daughter of David Slovenia?" I nodded. "God, you've changed quite a bit young lady! I didn't recognise you with the new hair and all."

"Anyway Kayleigh," Tom said. "Charlotte is offering to help out with the gig tomorrow night."

"I was in my own band not so long ago. I saw you perform at _The Dolphin_ and I watched videos of your performance at the music concert," She then looked highly impressed. "Pure genius."

I nodded. "I think we'll need it. The help, we'll need."

Charlotte's smile became wider as I said that. I smiled back at her knowing that her smile was exactly the same as it was when she babysat me. Tom looked at his watch and said that it was time he left. We both agreed and said bye to Tom as he started to walk away. Charlotte wanted to walk me home.

"So, how long have you known Tom?" I asked as we walked through town.

"All my life. We grew up together." Charlotte said as she put her hands in her jean pockets and kicked a stone.

"Well, I'd best be leaving." Charlotte said as we reached my house.

"You can stay if you want." I suggested, opening the front door.

"Would your mum mind?"

I shook my head. "There's another funfair at Links Golf Club again today and my family said that they're going to go down there. She'll never know you've been round."

Just then there was a loud rumble of thunder.

Charlotte sighed. "Will the rain ever stop?"

I smiled as we walked into the house. I closed the front door and Charlotte looked around the room taking off her coffee brown leather jacket.

"Your house hasn't changed one bit." She said as she looked at our family photo from the summer before, which was hung up on the wall.

"Well we now have a snooker table in the kitchen, a gambling table in the sitting room and we've had a conservatory built at the back." I took Charlotte's jacket and hung it up on the wall peg by the door.

"Who likes to gamble in your family?" She asked.

"My brothers and my dad."

She laughed. "Last time I saw your brothers, they were five years old. Right little monsters they were," She paused for a bit. "Do you still call them …?"

"Lovely Little Liam, Screaming Lord Thomas and Headband Dan?"

Charlotte nodded. "Still the same then?"

"And so they always will be."

There was moment's silence before Charlotte asked if we had a piano. I directed Charlotte to the garage, even though she didn't need directions as she knew where all the rooms were. Charlotte laughed as she looked at the model of Buckingham Palace which dad made whenever she was round.

"And it's _still_ unfinished."

"Yeah," I said folding my arms. "I think he gave up after you stopped babysitting me." I walked over to the model and pointed to some small guards that we both made when she came round. Being in the house with Charlotte again brought back memories of when we used to try to force dad to finish building the model. We would check it every week yet there was no change to it.

Charlotte stood up and said that she wanted to sing me a song that she wrote. She took out a sheet of paper from her back jean pocket and passed it to me. I read through the lyrics. The song was called _Listen to Your Heart_.

Charlotte sat down on the piano stool and lifted the cover over the keys. The corners of her mouth curled into a smile. Her long, elegant fingers stretched over the keys as she started to play the song for me. I couldn't help but to smile with a tear in my eye when she sang. Her voice was beautiful and so was the song.

"That was beautiful." I whispered when she finished. Charlotte took out another sheet of paper. "What's this?" I asked as she handed it to me. Charlotte gestured me to read it. I unfolded the paper. It was more song lyrics to a song called _Falling Back_.

"I wrote it for you." She said.

"What's the meaning?"

Charlotte sighed. "It means that no matter what happens, you're willing to be there to catch people who you love when needed and to help them get back on their own two feet," She sighed again. "I wrote it from your point of view."

I looked at her and frowned. "How do you mean?"

"Well, when I went to babysit you, it was something very sweet you told me and it touched my heart. And for the next five years, I was always thinking about what you said. So I decided to write the song for you."

"What did I say?" I asked but Charlotte didn't answer. I looked down at the sheet of paper and had another read through the lyrics.

"I'd like you to sing this, Kayleigh. I want you to sing this song on stage in front of a crowd. I want people to understand who you are as a person. I think it will get the better side of you."

I said nothing and folded up the sheet of paper. "Do you want to go to the funfair?" I suggested, changing the subject from the song.

Charlotte blinked a couple of times, lost in her thoughts. "Funfair?"

I shrugged. "Y'know, the one at the Links Golf Club where my family have gone to. I'm sure they'd want to see you again."

Charlotte's mystified look turned into a broad smile.

We took a slow walk down to Little Chelsea where the cold breeze bit at our cheeks. Before we left, I got changed out of my dirty school uniform and into my favourite pick t-shirt which had a picture of a crown sewn on the front. Over the top, I wore my denim skirt-like dungarees and I stole Tracie's brown ankle boots.

"Aren't you cold in that?" Charlotte asked as the rain and wind got a bit harder.

I shook my head. "Nope."

"You look like you're dressed for the summer."

I rolled my eyes. "And you're starting to sound like my mum."

Charlotte laughed. "You're lucky I brought this." She said, taking an umbrella out of her bag and putting it up.

"Charlotte, we have a high chance of getting struck my lightening with that thing up." I muttered, moving away from the umbrella.

"Kayleigh, you need to stop being so superstitious."

I grunted as I flattened down my hair with my hand.

The rest of the walk to the funfair was in silence. We only started to speak once we had arrived.

"So, what do you want to do?" Charlotte asked, taking down her umbrella and shoving it in her bag since the rain had stopped. Before I could answer, a bunch of kids suddenly ran straight into us, all screaming and chasing after each other. Charlotte and I had to cover our ears from their deafening screams.

"Get away from here would be great." I said as we both tried to dodge out of the children's way.

Charlotte wasn't bothered by the little children as she said how she used to work in a nursery. I guessed that if she volunteered to babysit me, she must like children a lot to want to work with them.

"Kayleigh?" Someone called my name.

In front of us, stood beside the candy floss stand was mum with my three brothers, looking gleeful. I rolled my eyes as they approached us.

"Kayleigh, what are you doing here?" Mum hissed her voice low. "You're supposed to be grounded," I said nothing as mum glared at Charlotte. "And who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Charlotte," I said as Charlotte reached her hand out towards mum. "She used to babysit me when I was eight, remember?"

Mum narrowed her eyes, examining Charlotte before looking very surprised. "Charlotte? My goodness! Long time no see?" They shook hands.

"It's great to see you again, Mrs Slovenia." Charlotte said happily. She then looked at my three brothers. "I bet you boys don't remember who I am, do you?"

"Didn't you used to come round a lot?" Dan asked, folding his arms.

Charlotte nodded.

"Anyway, how've you been, Charlotte? You must be about twenty by now, aren't you?" Mum started to ask. "How's you're band getting on?"

"Mum," I mumbled, not wanting to stand in the entrance of the funfair for hours on end as mum played twenty questions with Charlotte. It took mum one glance at me before she left us alone. My three brothers walked in a different direction from mum.

"So how many years have your parents been married?" Charlotte asked as we walked around the funfair, eating chips.

"Twenty three years," I said as I squeezed tomato ketchup over my chips. "They were only married four years before they had Tracie and I."

Neither of us was in the right frame of mind to go on any of the rides so we spent most of the evening walking around the funfair, talking about everything that had happened in the time we hadn't seen each other. However, I didn't explain about turning into a bitch when I was ten because I didn't want to explain the story for the second time that day. Nor did I want to say anything about my parents and the fact that I wanted to move away and live in Brighton with dad. So instead, I told Charlotte about taking my GCSE's and what I planned to study in college. I told her about my pen pal, Panya, and I explained more about my band and the reason why we decided to start a band together. I then had to explain about how I became friends with McFly as Charlotte was curious, however, I didn't say much about my feelings towards Danny. Charlotte explained about when she went to college and her life at university. She said that she was planning on volunteering in Africa and studying music and that she was planning on going back to live in America. I asked about her band she used to be in but she was very hesitant to talk about it. I asked why they split but she simply told me that she didn't like to answer questions which involved why. Just like me.

We headed down to the side of the funfair where the picnic bench and cake stall was. The same place where I saw McFly for the first time. I froze on the spot for a moment and shut my eyes firmly. I started to think about the last time I was there. Lisa and Angie were eager to see McFly and I wasn't. I wanted to get as far away from them as possible but Lisa started the conversation. I opened my eyes and wondered where I would have been if we never talked to McFly. I joined Charlotte who was sat on the picnic table, eating her chips. However, I had lost my appetite as my head started thumping. I suddenly felt very tired. I rubbed my head slowly in attempt to stop the headache. Charlotte noticed.

"Band work is a lot of hard work," She said. "I used to get bad headaches when I was stressed."

To make it worse, someone screamed my name in my ear. I jumped to my feet in fright to see Angie laughing at me. Lisa was looking down at her phone.

"Jesus Christ, Angie!" I snapped. "I've got a bloody headache!"

Angie looked rather guilty and apologised.

"How come you've come here, Kayleigh?" Lisa asked gruffly, occasionally looking up from her phone. "I thought you're grounded."

I narrowed my eyes. Lisa never liked it when I didn't do as my parents said. "I came here with Charlotte," I said, gesturing to Charlotte who shook both their hands. "She's offered to help us with the gig tomorrow night."

"Hey," Charlotte said merrily. "I hope you don't mind me helping you."

"No, not at all," Angie said sweetly. "Tom told us and we're glad you offered. I think we need a bit of help anyway." With that, Lisa and Angie joined us on the picnic bench and they started talking. However, my headache got increasingly worse so the last thing I remembered them talking about was the song we picked to perform. I then started to wonder if Tom mentioned to anyone about my idea of wanting to leave the band earlier on that day. I then hoped that he hadn't.

I looked at my sister's boots that I nicked. They already had mud on the toes, and I knew that Tracie would kill me when she found out but it didn't bother me at all. I sighed as I squelched the boots into the mud, wishing that my headache would go.

After a while, we left the picnic bench and started to walk round the funfair together. Lisa mentioned something about McFly being at the funfair and wanting to meet up with them. As we walked on, I found myself linking arms with Angie for support as I started to feel rather light headed and dizzy. I didn't know what was wrong with me.

As we got further into the middle of the funfair, I heard some screams from one of the roller coasters close by and for some bizarre reason, as I heard the screams withdraw into the distance, it felt like my heart leaped into my throat, and my knees started to tremble. I felt truly faint and the busy crowd surrounding me started to make me feel somewhat claustrophobic. Wherever I looked, I could see people's faces and all I could hear was laughter and voices. Strange voices. I wanted to sit down but my motivation to move had vanished. It felt like my feet were planted into the muddy ground and my vision started to blur. People started to close in around me, calling my name. What happened to me then, I had no idea. I was shaking. I was sweating. I felt sick. I thought I was going to throw up but I didn't.

I heard someone call my name and shake my shoulder.

It was Danny.

I recognised his voice.

I recognised the northern accent.

I then blacked out and collapsed to the ground.

* * *

I was first aware of a cold hand touching my face and arms. More than one pair of hands. I felt something cool stroke my cheeks and wrists. I was then aware of the voices around me and the sound of the waves. They were just humming at first, and then they grew in volume as if someone was turning up a radio.

"Do you think she's okay? It's been five minutes, Tom." Charlotte's American accent was anxious but calming for me to hear.

"She's had a pretty stressful day. A lot of things have been going on around her. She just needs to rest."

"What is she stressed about?" I heard Lisa's voice. "She never said anything."

"It's nothing about you so don't worry."

There was silence after that, or as I could remember. It felt like I couldn't move from the position I was in. I didn't really remember what happened; I just knew I was laying on something hard and uncomfortable, maybe stones. I felt totally disconnected from my body. Like I was caged in some small corner of my head. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't even think properly.

"What time is it?" Danny demanded.

I was aware of someone's voice muffling against the sound of the strong waves. I was then aware of Danny's voice which was close to my face. I then felt something touch my lips. Something warm and moist. It was a feeling I've known before. It reminded me of the times I had with Danny, when I kissed him. I still felt like I couldn't move as if my brain refused to send signals to my joints.

"Kayleigh?" It was Angie's soft, comforting voice. "Can you hear me?"

I felt something cool against my ear as Danny's calming voice whispered,

"Kayleigh you're safe and we're here for you."

My eyes flickered open as my mind found its way back to my body.

"Oh, Kayleigh!"

I found myself sitting up in Angie's arms.

"Kayleigh, you're lucky you've woken up. Dougie and I were planning on chucking a bucking of sea water over you to wake you up." Harry started to say but stopped abruptly as Tom nudged him.

I managed to push Angie off to look who was there with me. Danny, Charlotte, Angie, Lisa, Sam, Dougie, Tom and Harry. All eyes were on me.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice shaking a little.

"You collapsed at the funfair." Sam said. I shook my head, my mind blank. I couldn't remember exactly what happened. I had a headache. The same headache that had been on and off but worse. That's all I remembered.

Charlotte took hold of my arm and slowly pulled me back onto my feet. I was a little unstable but Charlotte kept a firm grip on my shoulder, stopping me from falling over. I looked around at my surroundings. We were on the beach but no where near the pier. The sky was pitched black and the only light that reflected onto the stones was the street lights on the promenade. We were closer to the sea than the promenade.

Tom insisted he'd take me home. It was late at night and he couldn't trust me walking home on my own as I still hadn't recovered from passing out. However, I said that I was okay and that I didn't need everyone's attention. I didn't want everyone to make a big fuss over nothing.

Minutes went by and soon the minutes turned into an hour. We were all sat in a circle on the stones. I wanted to sit and relax a little before I started to walk. Everyone talked about our gig the next day. Sam confessed his nerves but Tom said that nerves was always a good thing as it meant that he cared that he was willing to do a good job. As the wind blew harder, I shivered, feeling rather silly with the way I dressed, knowing that I should have taken a hoodie with me. Charlotte was right that I looked like I was dressed for the summer. However, Danny, who was sat to my right, put his arm around my shoulders and brought me closer to him. I rested my head on his shoulder, feeling the heat from his body warming me. There were some awkward pauses as we did this and I could tell that everyone else was exchanging glances, but I didn't care. Nor did I think Danny cared. We were together again. He didn't even say that he wanted to be with me. We never arranged to go out together but I guessed that because I was grounded, it held us back a little. But this single movement of Danny putting his arm around me made me realise that he still cared for me. I then remembered the feel of his lips moments before I opened my eyes and regained consciousness.

After a while, the sound of a helicopter came from the distance. As we all stood up, ready to leave, the sound of the helicopter became louder and louder as it came closer and closer towards us. We all started to search the sky, intrigued by where the helicopter was coming from but it was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, the helicopter appeared in the night sky over the buildings and started to fly in our direction. I narrowed my eyes and could just about see some kind of flag attached to the back of it. A flag that flapped in the wind as the helicopter glided through the clear night sky.

As it got closer to us, I realised that it was no flag. In fact, it was a sign. It was a sign for us. A sign for my band, wishing us luck for our upcoming gig. It read: _Good luck Broken Wings. Do Eastbourne proud! _As the helicopter flew over our heads, we all cheered in excitement as we watched it vanish into the horizon.

"There you go," Harry said, nudging me. "People _do _support your band!"

I said nothing as my face ached. I couldn't stop smiling.

All lights were off in the house and I couldn't hear anything, apart from the sound of Dakota munching on his dinner. We left the beach sometime after we saw the helicopter. We were all laughing with excitement about our gig. I thought that our gig was just going to be in front of the school but it turned out that the public were more than welcome to come and watch. Somehow, the word about _Broken Wings_ had spread across the town. However, I was hoping that mum wouldn't find out because the last thing I needed was to disappoint her or for her to try and stop the whole band. I was just thankful that dad was okay with the idea.

I walked into the cold kitchen and took off Tracie's mud-covered boots and put them on the shoe rack in the conservatory, knowing that Tracie wouldn't be impressed when she found out that I wore them without her permission. But I knew that even if I asked, she wouldn't lend them to me. I then picked up Dakota and carried him upstairs to my room where my four siblings were sound asleep. I crawled into my bed. Dakota licked my face three times before curling into a ball and falling asleep. I didn't know why I took Dakota up to my room. I didn't like him. He was just an irritating dog. But I put that thought to the back of my mind. I just wanted someone to keep me company. I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was sound asleep.


	12. Chapter 11

**Thursday 17th April**

I was woken up that morning by Dakota licking my face and panting heavily. My siblings were already out of bed. I pushed Dakota off me and steadily got out of bed. My head felt empty and it felt like I needed a couple more hours of sleep. I stumbled across the bedroom and looked at my reflection in the mirror.

"This is it, Kayleigh," I said to myself. "There's nothing I can do but make the most of it. The public are either gonna love us or hate us. I have a 50/50 chance so all I can do is do my best." I pause for a moment, waiting for my reflection to say something back but it never did and it never would. Talking to my reflection was never a good sign. I frowned and looked down at my purple electric guitar, which was leaning against the wall by the window. I smiled broadly. "You'd better do a good job." I said, pointing at the guitar. Moments later, the golden sun started to shine through the thin curtains which instantly put me in a good mood, as I knew that I had less chance of falling over in the mud on the way too school that morning.

I glanced back at my reflection as I thought it was going to say something back but it didn't. I ran into the bathroom and had a quick shower before getting into my clean school uniform, which mum washed the night before. Once I had finished, I ran downstairs to find that mum had left a note on the table saying that she had already taken my siblings into school as she had to do our weekly shopping early because the supermarket was closing early that day. I rolled my eyes and took a look around the kitchen. I wasn't hungry. I knew that we didn't have much in the way of food apart from Cheerio's. I poured myself a bowel and sat on the counter eating them, even though I didn't want them.

Not wanting to be ridiculously early for school, I ate my breakfast slowly, one Cheerio at a time. I chewed them purposefully, making sure that they were chewed properly before I swallowed. I didn't want the risk of chocking on a Cheerio and dying in the kitchen. I had only just started my fourteen years of bad luck after breaking two mirrors, so I wanted to be extra cautious.

Once I was finished, I put the cereal bowel into the sink and drag myself over to the fridge where I started to re-arrange the fridge magnets. We had over twenty on the door and I arranged them in size order. I had a feeling that I started to develop some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The last two magnets were two wooden blue tits. They were my favourite because they could hold ten sheets of paper to the fridge without falling off. Nor did they break a sweat. They were excellent magnets. They had attitude. They had the strength and the ability to hold more paper than most of the other ones. Some of the magnets were collected from tourist shops which my brothers liked to collect. Everywhere we went as a family, they would always collect a fridge magnet to add to our already heaving collection. Except Liam. It was only Screaming Lord Thomas and Headband Dan.

I started to feel quiet irritated with the magnets as it felt like I was in a battle against them to line them up perfectly. Whenever I tried to get the last magnet into perfect position, another one thought that it would play game with me by jumping out of place. It knew that the frustration was building up inside me. Stupid with stubbornness, I started to kick the fridge till they all fell onto the tiled floor with a loud clatter. I paused for a moment, hoping that they had given up with their silly game. I bent down and scooped the twenty odd fridge magnets in two hands and looked down at them. _Look at them_, I thought to myself, _Look that them squirming, wanting to be free_.

"You see," I said out loud. "Being under control isn't so horrible, is it? You need to learn how to discipline your actions. Take control of your anger and your arrogance. Stop yourself from doing something that you'll regret for the rest of your life." I stood there for a second only realising how much of a hypocrite I sounded. _Take control of your anger_, I repeated my own voice in my head, _Come on, Kayleigh, even you aren't able do that_. Then it hit me that I was out of my mind. I had gone crazy. Talking to objects was never a good thing. What was I thinking? I was talking to the fridge magnets as if they were actual things that would reply back to me. I thought they were against me. Of course they weren't. Not quite able to admit that I wasn't having any lasting effects from the night before. I must have really bashed my head on something when I collapsed. I didn't think that my head had either recovered from when I nearly drowned after smacking it on the lifeguard chair two weeks ago.

Then, with a sigh, I put the magnets back on the fridge, not caring if they were out of place. I was more exasperated at myself than I was at the magnets.

"You don't need to be so inflexible." I muttered. With that, I decided to leave the house, even though it was still too early to leave. I wanted to leave, just in case the magnets started to talk back. I took some Sunny D out of the fridge and put it into my bag. I ran for the door, taking a couple of glances back at the magnets. As soon as I got outside, I saw Charlotte leaning against her polished black Beetle which was parked in our driveway. Her arms were folded across her chest. I frowned and slowly approached her, the sun shining brightly in my face.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"Since your mom took your brothers and sister to school. I didn't want to come barging into the house because it would be rude."

"You should have," I mumbled. "It's going a bit crazy in there."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow as I chucked my school bag and guitar case in the back of the car and sat down in the passenger seat. The seats were a beige leather colour and it seemed somewhat refreshing. Hanging off the rear view mirror was a car scent. It smelt like wood, yet just like the seats, it felt freshening. I ran my fingers across the leather of the seat. Charlotte slipped into the driver's seat and closed the door. I felt out of place sitting in an American car. It took me a while to realise that the steering wheel was on the left hand side of the car, not the right.

Charlotte turned the key which started the boisterous engine. She then turned on the air conditioner as she reversed out of the drive and drove down the road.

"It's meant to be a hot day today." Charlotte said, not taking her eyes off the road. I could tell how hot it was going to be as the sun was almost blinding us through the windscreen. Charlotte was wearing sunglasses. I looked out the window, watched the many people walking out in the streets, wearing shorts and sun hats. I started to bite my nails and sank back into the leather seat. "So, how are you feeling this morning?" Charlotte asked as she drove past the beach.

I hesitated for a moment and then sighed. "I don't know," I replied as I ran my fingers through my hair. "Charlotte, what happened to your band?" I then asked, changing the subject. "How come it never worked out?" I looked at her and her face seemed to have frozen. She started chewing on her bottom lip. Her shoulders were tense and her hands were gripping hard on the steering wheel. I knew that I shouldn't have asked her in the first place but I wanted to know. She relaxed after a sigh.

"We had a concert in the Hard Rock Café in New York two years ago," She started. "It was the best thing that could ever happen to us. It was a dream come true," She pursed her lips. "We were a bit like you, a sort of college rock band. We always did covers of bands like the Pretenders or any seventies bands we liked. It was what we enjoyed doing, but we didn't know it would turn out as badly as it did."

"Why, what happened?" I asked. I didn't hesitate. I wanted to know.

"We sang _Falling Back_. I explained to the audience about this young girl who I used to babysit every weekend and how I wrote this song for you." She paused as we turned into the school's car park. She parked in the corner and quickly turned the engine off. She turned in her seat to face me, resting her elbow on the steering wheel.

"What happened?" I asked again.

The corner of her lips curled upwards very slightly but dropped instantly. Charlotte took off her sunglasses. "We entered a battle of the bands competition. The winner would win a record contract and would tour the world, releasing their new album. It was everything we had dreamed of and we knew that it would be our last try. But we didn't win. We weren't even given a place. However, my bassist, like you, couldn't control his anger and started to attack the winners of the competition," Charlotte paused once more. "We were banned from performing anywhere else. We were kicked out of the building and were told never to come back. We all went our separate ways that night and I haven't seen them, nor have I heard from them since."

I found Charlotte's story quite touching. I had an image in my mind of what her band was like. I could see all the screaming fans, cheering them on, and I could imagine Charlotte's beautiful voice singing my song. We sat there, motionless for a couple of minutes but then Charlotte smiled.

"C'mon, let's not keep everyone waiting." She said as she clambered out the car. I followed her out, still thinking about her band. I felt like I wanted to get her band back together, maybe give them one more chance of success but by the way Charlotte was talking, she seemed like she didn't want that to happen.

By lunchtime, we were all confident with our song and it sounded better and better after each run through. We had moments where one of us would stop in the middle and change a chord or something. McFly, Charlotte and Mr Smallcombe helped us. The people who played the string instruments were brilliant.

When the bell rang for lunch, I was given money to buy everyone something from the canteen for lunch. So, walking out of the hall, making sure that no one was watching me, I quickly walked to the canteen and joined the end of the queue. As I watched everyone in the canteen, I realised how no one knew that McFly were in the building helping us for our concert. We knew if they were caught, Mr Hobbs would kick them out of the school and most likely would cancel our gig. I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that someone was going to find out. But how could they? We had all doors to the hall locked and teachers on duty would stop anyone wishing to enter.

As time went buy, the queue to buy lunch was getting shorter and shorter. I sighed and leant against the wall as my patience started to shrink. I had no time to be standing around for ages to buy lunch.

That was when I saw them.

Sat on a table in the middle of the canteen, my sister and her girlfriends, James, Chris, Jordan and Craig, were together, eating lunch. I quickly turned away and started to pull my hair over my face, hoping that they wouldn't see me. The last thing I needed was them to throw any rude remarks at me. Nor did I want to loose my temper. I shot once glance over in their direction and I caught Jess' eye. Before I knew it, I quickly grabbed a few bottles of flavoured water from the counter and headed for the door.

That was when I bashed into Jenny, Jess, Katy, Chloe and Tracie. How they got to the doorway so quickly, I didn't know.

"How's your rehearsal going, Kayleigh?" Katy asked with a smug look on her face.

I narrowed my eyes, not liking her smugness. I said nothing and tried to get past them, but Jenny put her hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

"A little birdie tells us that the McFly boys are helping you out for your gig tomorrow night," She said. "Surely that's not allowed."

I froze on the spot. I was expecting it. I knew that we would be caught. However, I wanted to prove them wrong. I wanted to show them that they were wrong, even though they weren't. I found myself laughing, because I knew that if I didn't respond quickly enough, they would know for sure. I laughed more than I should have. They were exchanging glances. They could tell that I was nervous through the way I laughed. "I have no idea what you're talking about." I managed to say after I had controlled my fake laughter.

"You're a terrible liar; you do know that, Kayleigh." Tracie hissed but I ignored her. I looked at Jess.

"Tell me you seriously don't believe that McFly are here at school." I grumbled, speaking only to Jess but Jenny spoke,

"Well there's that or one of your band mates has suddenly picked up a northern accent."

"Drama," I said quickly. "Lisa was practising her accent for her GCSE drama performance." I was scared. I thought about how I had put Danny in trouble before and that I was doing it again. That was why I pushed him away because whenever he was with me, he was always in trouble.

"Well that's a lie. The drama performances were over two months ago."

I sighed "Alright, what do you want?" They said nothing but fidgeted on the spot, folding their arms and putting their hands on their hips. I raised my eyebrows.

"I thought I made it clear at the hockey match," Jess said. "Stay clear of Danny. You're not worthy enough for him," She then lowered her voice. "Or perhaps you want to remember exactly what happened at Katy's party."

"I don't have time for this." I mumbled as I pushed passed Jess and walked quickly through the corridors back to the hall. I never got lunch for anyone, but nothing was said. Everyone could clearly see the look of frustration and worry on my face but nothing was said. Until I sat on the floor next to Charlotte and spoke. "People have already started to figure out that you guys are here."

Tom groaned and scratched the back of his head. There wasn't much we could do then. If Tracie and her girlfriends knew, then in no time, everyone would find out.

"Could you at least be a little bit more specific as to whom 'people' are." Lisa snapped.

"Jess, Chloe, Katy, Jenny and my sister." I said in reply as I looked around the hall. Mr Smallcombe wasn't in the room.

However, Charlotte didn't seem at all that worried and wanted us to run through the song again with all the changes that we had made. It wasn't until the last lesson that there was a knock on the hall door and Mr Hobbs' voice called. He ordered us to open the door and allow him in. All of us had frozen on the spot, clueless as to what the best possible way would be to escape the hall. But Mr Hobbs' knocked again and again, ordering us to open the door.

"Talk about dumb luck." I heard Tom mutter from beside me. I felt someone push me slightly forward and found Lisa ordering me to go and talk to Mr Hobbs as she said that she would help the McFly boys leave. However, I had a plan. I ran to the large glass window, over-looking the football field and decided to climb out of it. I heard everyone whispering to one another, not having a clue as to what I was doing. I knew that if I had walked to the hall door and opened it, the delay from the first knock to opening the door would blow our cover. Mr Hobbs' would guess that we were hiding something from him. So instead, I planned to walk up to Mr Hobbs from the other direction and pretend that I was clueless as to why he was there. Besides, the door was locked and I had the key with me.

I followed the path around the football field and through the schools front door. I walked into the foyer, ignoring the receptionist and turned down the corridor, leading to the door. Mr Hobbs was stood facing the large double doors, knocking on it. Jess, Katy, Jenny and Chloe were there with him. Trace wasn't.

"Mr Hobbs?" I said, slowing my walking pace as I approached them. They turned to look at me. "Can I help you?"

"You've got some explaining to do." Mr Hobbs growled, folding his arms.

I paused and raised my eyebrows, trying to make myself look confused, rather than worried. I said nothing, allowing Mr Hobbs to speak.

"Why am I being informed that you are receiving help from this new boy band, McFly?" He asked. "Kayleigh, I want a full explanation about this. I want the truth."

I frowned. "Is this a joke?"

"No."

"This is silly!" I snapped. "We wouldn't ask that band to help us when we can clearly work on our own. We don't even know them."

"THAT'S A LIE!" Jess shouted. "Sir, she's lying!"

I shook my head. "Jess, I don't understand why you always have to put me in trouble when I haven't done anything."

"Not done anything?" Jess said. She looked angrier than I was. "That's utter bullshit, Kayleigh! You know that you're in the wrong, just admit it!"

"That's _enough_ girls!" Mr Hobbs shouted. "Both of you are as bad as each other! Look at yourselves. Both of you have been eating at each others necks for as long as I can remember and I don't think anyone can take it any longer," He was stood in between us with his arms outstretched to the side, splitting us apart. "Now I know that one of you girls is lying to me and the only way to solve this problem is for Kayleigh to open the door."

I glared at Jess, knowing that she had won. She shook her head. I glanced at Mr Hobbs who was watching me. I slowly pushed past them and walked to the door.

"The doors locked." I said, looking at the wooden double doors that were in front of me. I wanted to avoid opening the doors.

"I gave you the keys," Mr Hobbs grumbled. "Where are they?"

"Usually on this table," I replied, tapping on an oak table which was to my right. "But they're not there."

"Don't be silly, they're in your blazer pocket." Katy didn't sound as if she was trying to catch me out, but almost as if she was helping me. But telling me where the hall keys were didn't help me at all.

Without looking down, I slipped my hand into my blazer pocket, fumbling for the keys. "Ah, gee," I said, forcing a smile onto my face. "Thanks, Katy." I could feel my lips twitching a little as I took the keys out of my pocket. It was a gold key with a wooden key ring attached to it. It had "HALL DOORS" carved on its flat surface. I took one look at Mr Hobbs' impatient stare before putting the key into the lock and slowing turning it clockwise till it clicked. I shut my eyes tightly as I pushed open the double doors, imagining McFly still in the hall, looking like deer caught in headlights as we entered. I heard the footsteps of Tracie's girlfriends and Mr Hobbs as they entered the hall.

"Oh, hi sir," I heard Lisa's voice. "Anything the matter?"

I opened my eyes to see Lisa, Sam and Angie sat by their instruments. The people from the orchestra were there too, playing odd chords on their instruments. Sam was quietly playing the music to _Leave It All to Me_. I looked as shocked as Tracie's girlfriends were but I quickly closed my mouth.

"Where are they?" Jess shouted. She was breathing heavily in frustration. "McFly. Where are they?" She walked towards Lisa, pointing at her. "I know that you've had McFly here to help you prepare for your gig tomorrow night."

The look of bewilderment from Lisa brought a smile onto my face. They did it. They managed to hide McFly somewhere. I finally had the chance to make Jess look silly. I finally got my own back on her, just like Lisa told me to do when we were in Brighton. However, I forced myself to scowl, not wanting to make anything too obvious. I had no idea where McFly were hiding but I was just thankful that we couldn't see them. They were safe. My friends were safe.

"She's right." Mr Hobbs mumbled, examining the hall.

"What?" I asked indifferently. "Sir, did you really think that McFly were _here_?"

There was a long pause of silence.

Mr Hobbs apologised to us and ordered us to get on with rehearsal as he took Jess, Katy, Chloe and Jenny to his office. As the double doors closed, McFly and Charlotte came out from behind the PE mats. I felt a little disappointed as I was expecting to be impressed by where they hid. It wasn't the greatest hiding place and they could've done better but I was just thankful that they weren't caught.

I sat down on the floor and laughed at them as they crawled out from behind the mats. I then found myself smiling gleefully, as I stroked the floorboards with my fingertips, thanking it for helping us out, even though I clearly knew that the floor did nothing to help us, other than be there, allowing us to walk on it. Still, I thanked it.

At the end of the school day, I found myself sprinting out the school gate, past the promenade and turning to the town centre. I ran faster and faster, heading towards the bowling alley.

As we were packing up after our final run through, Sam mentioned something along the lines about finding an advertisement in the job section in the local newspaper, advertising a Saturday placement at the bowling alley. I ran away as soon as he finished speaking. Lisa shouted after me, telling me to be back at school by seven that evening but I didn't reply. A job at the bowling alley was something that I had wanted for a while. Had Samantha, the girl in our PE class, quit her job as a waitress? Was I going to take her place? I was hoping that was the case.

"I'm interested in the part time job you're offering …" My voice trailed off as the man stood behind the main desk backed away and disappeared through the back door. I tried to sound as cheerful and enthusiastic as I could but I was lost for words as soon as he grunted and backed away. I waited by the desk for a couple of minutes, my knees trembling with a mixture of nerves for the gig and for getting the job. I wasn't too sure if I was going to get the job.

I watched the other customers in a line beside me, swapping their shoes for the original blue and red trainers that you had to wear while bowling. After about five minutes, I started walking away from the desk, watching the other customers walk in and the cars pass by outside. I then started to nod my head to the music that was being played in the background. I couldn't tell who was singing or what the song was but I liked it. It was a reggae song.

"Hello?" A voice called from behind me but I didn't hear it till they called again. I spun round to see that the man was back at the counter. He said something but I couldn't hear him due to the racket from the customers. I then heard his voice clearly.

"Well, sweetheart, the job is on offer for you if you want to take it."

I smiled and nodded. "I'll take it!" I said and walked back up to the counter. Gerald, the man was called. He was my boss. He was about the same height as I was but a lot wider. He had short stubby arms which sometimes rested on his round belly. His short brown hair was gelled to one side, just like the way Mr Humble had his hair, only it looked like Gerald's hair was like that due to grease rather than gel.

Before I knew it, I was put in my work uniform and was given an hour and a half trial … on cleaning duty. No. Samantha hadn't quit her job. She was still the waitress. I spent my trial shift as the cleaner, having to pick up everyone's litter, clean the tables and polish the trophies. I glanced at Gerald who was supposed to be watching over me but instead, he was talking to the other workers and laughing. I took my time cleaning the trophies and admiring them.

"I think they're clean enough, Kayleigh."

The voice startled me. I spun round quickly, nearly knocking over the cabinet of trophies. I had to hold onto it for balance.

It was Samantha. She was stood by one of the bar tables, collecting the empty beer glasses and putting them onto a tray, looking very professional. She had worked at the bowling alley for over eight months so she knew exactly what she was doing.

I narrowed my eyes, watching her every move. She still had the job I wanted. I was hoping that I wouldn't be on cleaning duty all the time and that Gerald would be kind enough to have a job rotation, allowing me to work in every department.

"You've just started?" She asked as she carried the tray towards me.

"Yeah," I mumbled as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as it had fallen out of my bun. "I'm on my trial shift."

Samantha snorted. "Do you know what you're doing?"

No. I hadn't a clue what I was supposed to do. Gerald hadn't given me any instructions as to what to do. "Yes." I replied.

Samantha raised her eyebrows. "Really?" She said. "I've been here for eight months and I can always tell when new employees are completely clueless as to what they're meant to do," She then shot a glance down a corridor which led to the toilets. "And being on cleaning duty doesn't involve admiring the trophies." With that, she walked down the corridor and through some double doors which led to the store room and kitchens.

I didn't like her smugness. I didn't like the way she thought she was better than me because she worked there longer that I had. I was only twenty minutes into my shift and she was trying to catch me out. I had never spoken to Samantha before. She was in my PE class and on my hockey team and was always the one to go to boy band concerts with Lisa and Angie whenever I didn't go, but we never really spoke. I always got a cocky and arrogant vibe from her.

I watched her go and poked my tongue out at her. Gerald caught me. I glanced at him with my tongue hanging out. He was talking to the other workers but was watching me at the same time. Embarrassed, I got down from the step ladder and looked up at the trophy cabinet and started to nod as if I was happy with the work I had done. I shot a few more glances at Gerald but he had moved on to serve a customer.

Minutes went by and soon the minutes turned into an hour. I went round, cleaning the toilets, polishing surfaces and rescuing bowling pins which got caught in the machine. All the time, I tried my hardest to avoid Samantha but she somehow found a way to constantly bash into me and say a rude remark. A subtle rude remark, telling me in a subtle way that what I was doing was wrong and that I wasn't good enough, nor did I have a clue as to what I had to do. It was rude enough to annoy me.

It was all I could do not to slap her.

I had five minutes left off my shift and I saw Gerald talking to Samantha. They were discussing something but Samantha didn't look at all that pleased. She seemed to say something to him, as if she was begging him for something, but Gerald won over. As they both turned to look at me, I awkwardly crouched behind a stand, holding the bowling balls. I hoped that they hadn't seen me but I knew they had. I made it too obvious by quickly hiding as soon as I caught their eyes.

I heard some foot steps on the wooden floor coming in my direction, so I pretended that I was busy polishing the balls.

"We're now working partners." Samantha said gruffly as she stood by my side.

"What?" I couldn't believe it. Working partners with Samantha. It was the last thing I wanted to hear. I then started to wonder if she was going to go to my gig that night. Samantha glared at me, waiting for me to say something else but I said nothing.

"Gerald noticed that you're struggling a little but he doesn't want to let you go because he thinks that you have potential," Samantha looked rather infuriated. "So he said that for the next few weekends, we'll be work partners."

"In what way?" I asked, glaring at the already-polished bowling balls.

"I'm on cleaning duty with you," She paused for a moment. "So I'll be by your side for the full eight hours for the next few Saturdays." I pushed myself up off the floor so I was level with Samantha. She reached out a hand to me. "Welcome to the team." She said. I narrowed my eyes and gripped hold of her hand and shook it. She forced herself to smile but it didn't reach her eyes. I then glanced over to Gerald who was watching us. He gave me a thumbs-up and then beckoned us to go over to him at the front desk.

"Eight hours with you every Saturday. This should be interesting." I mumbled as we walked side by side.

"I can't wait till I'm back on bar work," She then lowered her voice. "I can tell that you're going to be Gerald's favourite."

"What? And you're not?"

"Gerald doesn't like people. He's very much like you, Kayleigh: moody, hates people, superstitious and oh, what's the word?" Samantha stopped in her tracks looked pensive for a moment. "Self-centred."

For a moment, Samantha and I stopped walking to look at each other. "I can see why Gerald hates people," I hissed. "It's because he has to put up with arrogant, selfish people like yourself. I'm done." I smirked and walked on towards Gerald who was still waiting for us. He handed me a badge to wear with my uniform and welcomed me to the team. He introduced me to the other workers. He gave me my working hours and told me that he'll put Samantha back on bar duty when he thinks that I know what I'm supposed to do. With that, he started to scowl, just like he did when I first entered.

"I want you here Saturday morning, nine o'clock sharp, sweetheart."

"Aye, aye captain." I replied, knowing that it wasn't the right thing to say to my boss but he just grunted before disappearing out the back door.

* * *

Ten minutes.

That was what we had left before we were on stage, performing to not only everyone from school, but many citizens from Eastbourne. A stage was set up on the football field and the front gates were open to the public. Mr Humble was stood by the gates, directing the drivers to empty parking spaces. The crowd had started to file in onto the field. The sound of the chatter, the laughter and the footsteps on the grass was enough to get my adrenaline rushing. That was it. That was the moment we were waiting for. We had two full days of rehearsals, with McFly and Charlotte helping us out. However, a part of me wanted to run away. To leave. To run to the beach and burry myself under the stones. To pretend that I was invisible and hope that no one would find me. Yet as I looked at Danny, those feelings disappeared and instead of wanting to run away and hide, I wanted to run into Danny's arms. I wanted to be with him. I wanted him to tell me that everything was okay and that we could be together without the likes of Jess or James to spoil everything.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mr Smallcombe was already on stage with a microphone in hand, speaking out to the audience. "It gives me great pleasure to introduce you all to our schools band," Heart racing like crazy, I picked up my electric guitar and Dougie gave my arm a squeeze. "_Broken Wings_." There was a loud cheer from the crowd. I glanced through the side curtain and saw the orchestra taking their places at the back left corner of the stage. Mr Smallcombe started to talk about the old school band, _Smashed Eggs_, and how successful they were. He then went on to how the school was blessed to have us.

"Kayleigh." I turned round quickly at the sound of my name. Dad was stood several paces away from me. To see dad standing there, gave me hope. A smile stretched out on his face, giving me warmth. I ran to my father and embraced him, feeling his body heat radiate off me.

"How are you feeling?" Dad asked as he pulled away.

"Nervous," I managed to say. "I was scared you'd never turn up."

Dad smiled. "Is your mother here?"

I frowned, feeling hurt as dad addressed mum as my mother, not just mum liked he used to. "She doesn't know anything about this," I replied. "She thinks I'm at a geography revision session. She wouldn't allow me to do this concert if she knew."

Dad smiled but it didn't seem to reach his eyes. I knew that the fact that I never told mum anything pained him, but he didn't seem to realise just how much it had pained me to see him staying in some old hotel in the town centre, not in our house where he belonged.

"And about what happened with Courtney," I started. "I just jumped to conclusions too quickly and didn't give you a chance to explain."

"Hey, don't sweat it," Dad said as he placed a hand on my shoulder, gripping it firmly. "She only a colleague," He lowered his voice as I nodded. "Besides, I think you scared her off. She hasn't been round since."

I found myself laughing. I wasn't surprised as many people were scared of me after I loose my temper. There was a loud cheer from the audience as Mr Smallcombe announced us to the stage. Lisa called my name fiercely, as they started to go on stage. I looked down at my outfit. I decided to wear cotton, long sleeved, navy blue top and a white dress over the top. The dress had thin straps that went over my shoulders and the hem finished just above my knee. It was more of a summer dress.

"Do I look okay, dad?" I asked as Lisa hissed my name again.

Dad nodded and said, "You look beautiful." Before leaning in to kiss me on the forehead. With that, I ran on stage.

Blinding lights. Ear deafening cheers. I squinted in the light as I made my way around the stage. While the cheers became louder and louder, we all plugged in our instruments. The lights dimmed down as we started. Angie hit her drum sticks together four times and we started the song. The crowd cheered even louder as the lights came up again.

The rest of the concert was a blur to me. Towards the end of the song, we stopped singing and the crowd sang the chorus of _Everything I Own_ to us. The cheers and the applause at the end of the song were immense. We had to stand back to let it all sink in. Everyone was on their feet, clapping, whistling, punching their fists in the air, calling for an encore and chanting our bands name. I glanced over to Sam who was gazing out at the audience. He laughed as he caught my eye. We couldn't believe we had a reaction from a crowd like that.

Before I knew it, I was sitting in the school canteen, gripping hold of a glass on water. I had yet another splitting headache. Lisa, Sam, Angie, Charlotte and McFly were with me, gabbling about the gig.

I glanced down at my watch. It was nearly eleven at night and I needed some fresh air to get rid of the headache. Thankfully, no one seemed worried or concerned me and left me to be on my own. I caught Charlotte's glance as I left the canteen. I sat on the stone steps outside. The wind blew roughly as I closed my eyes tightly, trying to release the madness that was happening in my mind. No. I was still having effects from the night before but I was glad that I wasn't talking to objects. There were footsteps behind me.

"Hey." I looked up to see Danny stood beside me with his hands in his jean pockets.

"Hey." I replied as Danny sat on the steps with me. I looked out at the row of trees in front of us.

"You know, that," Danny started. "The gig. That was brilliant."

I sighed. "My minds gone blank and I can't seem to remember exactly how it went."

"Well that's what usually happens on stage," Danny said as he shuffled on the step. "I got that at our first gig here on the bandstand. I felt sick with nerves beforehand and I don't even remember how it went."

"It didn't show."

The corner of Danny's lips twitched. "It didn't show on you either."

There was a long pause of silence as the wind blew again.

"Can I just ask you something?" I asked. Danny nodded. "Why me?" Danny raised his eyebrows. "I mean, I'm nothing special. I just want to know what you see in me. I'm just a superstitious girl who's unable to control her own temper."

"Don't you ever listen?" Danny said a light tone to his voice. "I thought I told you that day at the pier why I liked you and why I wanted to spend time with you."

"But I always seem to put you in danger whenever we're together. Just think of Katy's party for instance."

"Hey, James doesn't scare me. Besides, he can attack me as many times as he likes and it'll never break me. Nor would it ever tear me away from you." Danny put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes with his words ringing in my ears. I didn't like the fact that Danny would happily let James hurt him just because of me. I couldn't let him do that. I didn't like the idea of anyone allowing themselves to get hurt just to cover me. I always liked to sort my own problems out on my own. I didn't need someone to do anything for me.

That was when our happiness ceased.

James had appeared round the corner. He marched towards us as Danny and I stood up slowly.

"Coming back for another round, are we, James?" Danny said as he reached us. I gripped onto the sleeve of Danny's jumper.

"Don't do this, Danny." I hissed through gritted teeth. The last thing I needed was more fights and more injuries and more pain.

"I thought you would have learnt your lesson from last time, Jones," James was face to face with Danny. "Or do I have to repeat my actions?"

"James, you don't have the right to do that." I managed to say but James didn't look away from Danny. There was a long pause of silence. The tension in the air rose. "James if you would please just …"

SMACK.

James was sprawled on the ground with blood running down his face. I attempted to stop anything from happening but Danny took a swing and hit James in the face. James jumped to his feet quickly, as if he wasn't hurt.

"Go on then, Jones, hit me again," I could see James's hands shaking. "If you think it's going to solve everything." They were face to face again.

"What's going on?" Charlotte was stood beside them with her hands on her hips. Trying to stop myself from screaming with anger, I took a couple of steps backwards. Danny hit James. It wasn't James. It was Danny. I couldn't believe it. Danny had no need to do so. We could have just walked away from James easily and what happened next would have never happened. Life afterwards would be so much simpler, but no. The fates had dealt me a lazy hand. "Alright boys, I think enough is enough. Let's just try to calm down and sort this out like proper human beings rather than animals."

"Fuck off. Why don't you just go back where you belong, Yankee?!" James growled, drawing his focus from Danny to Charlotte.

Charlotte looked unimpressed. "I beg your pardon?"

"Don't beg for it," James then backed away, wiping the blood from his nose on his shirt sleeve. "You'll regret the day you ever met Kayleigh," James said pointing at Danny. "Next time, I'll give you something that'll make her scream louder than she did that night I shagged her."

I had to hold onto the stone wall beside me to stop myself from falling over. I was terrified. That was the most frightened I had ever felt. I shut my eyes, hoping that he didn't mean what I thought he meant. Surely, as part as a revenge on Danny, James wouldn't rape me.

"Well you won't be getting your hands on her without getting to me first."

Then it all happened too quickly.

I wasn't quick enough to do anything.

It happened before I could stop it.

Danny marched towards James.

Charlotte followed him, trying to break them apart.

James spun round to face Danny with a large rock in his two hands.

He chucked it towards Danny.

Danny crouched to the ground as the rock flew over his head.

Then Charlotte collapsed to the ground.

Unconscious.

**END OF BOOK TWO**


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